Platform: Switch
Developer: Eden Games
Publisher: Microïds
MSRP: $44.99
Introduction
As the Switch continues to rise in popularity and availability, there will be an increasing need to satisfy more and more types of gamers. While the Switch has everything from epic open-world RPGs, platformers, puzzles and even fighters, the Arcade Racing genre, at least with actual cars and not futuristic hover racers, has been neglected. That is, up until now. Gear.Club Unlimited aims to scratch that Arcade Racing itch with a meaty campaign and a hot selection of cars.
Tons to do, and a great selection of cars
The game’s main campaign mode is a sprawling map of activities that unlock as you progress through the game. The progression is measured by the number of stars you earn per race, which is tied to your placement. Get first place and you’ll earn three. As you keep collecting, more races of varying difficulty and type unlock, meaning you’ll eventually get access to Rally races and Desert Races, among many others.
The car roster is certainly not extensive, at least not in comparison to other racing titles. Clocking in at a paltry 32 cars, the ones that are available, are at least all enjoyable to drive. You’ll be driving cars like the Acura NSX 2016, Ford Mustang GT 2015, a few different McLarens, Nissan 370Z, Lotus Exige S and Jaguar F-Type R AWD. There’s really no clunkers in there. It somewhat takes away from the satisfaction of taking a crappy car and making it better, but at least you can rest easy knowing that whatever car you buy, it’s going to at least immediately be awesome.
Surprisingly, there is a lot you can do to improve your car. You can purchase upgrades, assuming you also keep upgrading your garage, you can change up your colors and even purchase custom parts, allowing you to customize the look of your car with things like side skirts, hoods, and spoilers.
It’s a mobile port
Gear.Club Unlimited isn’t an original racing game. If you’ve been gaming on your phones for a while, you might recognize the name Gear.Club, as it’s been available on smartphones for over a year now. The Unlimited version is basically the same game but stripped of its mictrotransaction and time-gating elements. That’s right, in an age where AAA premium-priced titles are littered with microtransactions and gated content to pressure players to spend money, a game that was originally designed around them, is now completely free of them.
I ended up downloading the mobile version just so I could compare the games, and in most cases, Unlimited has the leg up on its free-to-play counterpart. For one, like I stated before, there is no time gated content. That means you won’t have to wait to build upgrades to your garage, your cars don’t degrade over time, forcing you to wait to race again, or you won’t have to wait to have an upgrade installed in your car. This means you’ll literally be able to play at your own pace without constantly being hassled to wait, and fly through the campaign as fast as you want. The money you earn from races has also been dramatically increased, meaning you’ll be able to get new cars and upgrade them at a much quicker rate.
The only ‘mobile’ mechanic that persisted is your garage and the way you go about upgrading it. Your garage is made up of individual rooms, each that specializes in something different. In one you’ll be able to upgrade your engine, in another, you’ll customize its color, etc. Each of those rooms has levels, meaning that if you want better upgrades, you’ll need to upgrade those rooms. And in order to upgrade them, you’ll need to raise your personal rank by winning races and earning EXP. While this does sound tedious and annoying, it has been tweaked so you attain all of this at a much quicker pace. A few races or a tournament win usually nets me enough EXP to level my rank and enough money to upgrade a part of my garage. I never felt like I was being constantly held back, which is certainly appreciated.
There are two downsides, however. First, since the game was designed as a mobile game first and foremost, most of the races are very short. On mobile that makes sense, considering you don’t usually spend hours gaming on your device. On the Switch, despite it being mobile, it makes less sense, especially once you dock it. I wish that the game had some reworked courses to make them better fit for the Switch, rather than being the same exact ones from the mobile game.
The second and arguably bigger downside is that for some reason, the framerate is half of its mobile port. You could certainly make the argument that phones nowadays are extremely powerful, but even with that in consideration, especially since this game came out a year ago, it’s disappointing that Unlimited couldn’t hit a solid 60fps, especially on those short tracks.
Conclusion
Despite Gear.Club Unlimited’s hefty price tag of $45, I find it extremely admirable that developer Eden Games did away with any and all signs of microtransactions and actually tweaked the game’s rewards and progression so that gamers aren’t constantly gated by some sort of obstacle. In an age where Need for Speed can ultimately be ruined by these things, despite costing $60, it’s nice to see that a game originally built around these things, could be tweaked to be enjoyable without spending any extra money on microtransactions.
The car list might be short, but it is made up of cars you’ll undoubtedly want to drive. The game looks quite good, with the detail on the cars looking particularly good, it’s just a shame that the devs weren’t able to shoot for a smoother 60fps experience.
If you have a Switch, or hell, just looking for an Arcade racing experience that won’t try to shove microtransactions down your throat, or artificially gate your progress with unnecessary bullsh*t, then Gear.Club Unlimited is certainly recommended.
