Having played the alpha build of Drift Stage a few weeks ago, I was instantly in love with it. That can be accounted for to me growing up with racing titles such as OutRun, Daytona USA, Rad Racer, Ridge Racer and Power Drift, just to name a few and they were awesome games for their times. That said I’d have no issue lumping what I’ve played so far with Drift Stage into that line-up of some of favorite arcade racing games of all time. Sure it was merely a alpha but it provided a sample of game-play and it looked really good for what it was. Hell, I’m still playing it even though it’s just one continuous track.
However folks, Drift Stage isn’t completed and there’s where Super Systems Works needs our help. Currently there is a Drift Stage campaign over at KickStarter and at the time of this article it was up to $19,87500 which is half of the $30,000.00 that is being asked for, and its reached that in less than 24 hours. So while I’m pretty sure that the funding goal will be reached, I still wanted to get the word out on this title.
Update: Currently in less than 2 days the campaign is setting at 75% of it’s goal and there’s still 27 days to go!
So what is Drift Stage? Well Super Systems Softworks sums it up pretty well.
Drift Stage is a modern evolution of the classic arcade racer, bringing the gameplay up to date a bit while keeping the late 80’s style intact.
In these street races, speed reigns supreme. The art of the drift is easy to learn and immediately fun, but it’s true depth and challenge are hard to master.
Drift Stage will feature a roster of cars inspired by the mid-late 80’s and early 90’s racing on tracks ranging from city streets to coastal beaches and many in between. The game comes fully loaded with single-player modes including a character oriented career mode, circuit races, and leaderboard chasing time trials. Local splitscreen and online multiplayer races will also be in full swing.
While not present in the alpha / beta, Drift Stage will be made up of conventional races, time trails, infinite drift and daily challenges. You’ll also be able to create your own tracks and customize your cars with the workshop mode. The game will also include local co-op with up to four players via split screen and online multiplayer. Oh and what good would a racer be without cars and there’s a decent selection of them; The Bulldog, The Stalloni, The Tedesco, The Keizai, The GT Turbo and The ZX-78. Music is provided by Myrone, who has managed to nail the nostalgic vibe and will transport you back to the 80’s.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/162446048″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Keep in mind that Drift Stage is currently only planned for the PC / Mac / Linux. Consoles haven’t been ruled out but focus is the previously mentioned platforms.
