Screamer is a Must Try! - Gamescast Plays

Summary

Kinda Funny Gamescast: “Screamer is a Must Try!” – Gamescast Plays

Date: March 23, 2026
Hosts: Blessing Adeoye Jr., Andy Cortez
Episode Summary:
This episode centers around “Screamer,” an arcade racer with a unique anime-influenced flair, blending visual novel storytelling with high-speed racing action. Blessing and Andy deep-dive into Screamer’s gameplay, mechanics, history, characters, and customization, all while delivering authentic impressions, practical critiques, and plenty of laughs.

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Main Theme & Purpose

The cast spotlights “Screamer,” a newly-revived racing franchise blending anime aesthetics, visual novel elements, and classic arcade racing. The goal: to introduce the game to the audience via hands-on play, discussing its story, mechanics (like the unique entropy and boost systems), customization, online play, and how Screamer stands out from or falls short of racing giants such as Burnout and Forza.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. First Impressions & Setup

• Screamer wasn’t initially on Andy’s radar until Blessing raved about it on Slack, and Tim Gettys confirmed its brilliance with his own play session.
  • “It was really that slack that made me go, oh, shit. Blessing loves this. And this is something we gotta really kind of look after, you know?” – Andy (02:17)
• Odd Review Embargo: The embargo lifted at an unusual time (Sunday 4am), signaling niche coverage and a slow “word of mouth” build (02:34).
• Low but Growing Visibility: Screamer launched in a crowded season, entering with about 20 initial Metacritic reviews—suggesting sleeper hit vibes.

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2. Getting Into the Game: Story, Characters, and Voice Acting

• Historical Roots: Screamer was a 90s/early 2000s PC street racing franchise, now completely rebooted with anime/visual novel aesthetics (05:40–06:21).
• Visual Novel & Worldbuilding:
  • The story is immediately front-and-center—delivered through anime-style intros and fully-voiced dialogue.
  • “Like the visual novel stuff is where I was like, oh, all right. I didn't realize this was going to be more like this kind of vibe … The further the story goes, the more I was like, this is awesome.” – Blessing (10:17)
• Voice Cast:
  • Villain voiced by Troy Baker.
  • Main character Hiroshi is voiced by Alex Lee, with ties to Persona 3 (04:28–04:47).
• Fully Voiced Cast: Not just “visual novel text;” all main story content is acted (09:23).
• Quirky & Diverse Characters:
  • Notable teams include The Green Reapers, Jupiter Stormers, Anaconda Corp, Strike Force Ramonda, and more.
  • One standout: Gage, the clean-freak, dog-driving mechanic (15:14–15:48).
  • The cast converses in multiple languages, facilitated by in-universe translation implants (31:21).

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3. Gameplay Mechanics & Feel

• Core Controls:
  • Drift with right stick, accelerate/brake via triggers. Drifting and steering are independent for nuanced handling (10:29–10:52).
• Accessibility:
  • Notable features include tinnitus reduction and robust driving aids (04:15–04:23).
• Arcade Handling:
  • Satisfying control and “adapted triggers” on PlayStation’s DualSense, lending tactile feedback (11:22–11:31).
  • Learning Curve:
    • Drifting takes time to master—Blessing likens it to chasing the “Burnout high” (12:25–12:55).
• Combat & Entropy System:
  • Core loop revolves around gaining and using boost, filling an entropy meter, and pulling off strikes to KO rivals.
  • “Strikes” can only be performed trailing rivals (not side-swipes, unlike Burnout) (41:09–44:18).
• Story Mode:
  • Interweaves tutorials that contextualize mechanics within the plot—keeps players engaged in both gameplay and narrative (05:10–05:32).
• Track Design:
  • Secret routes exist, often hidden and requiring familiarity to exploit (19:41–20:19).
• Episode Structure:
  • Story unfolds in “episodes,” with racing and visual novel segments interleaved (15:14–19:04).
• Racing Depth:
  • There are both single, team-based, and challenge events (overdrive challenges, score challenges, etc.) available (39:10–46:38).

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4. Aesthetic, Music & Presentation

• Distinct Visual Flair:
  • Andy and Blessing gush over the anime-inspired character and car designs (26:22–28:40).
  • Headpieces, color palettes, and custom cars reflect unique team identities.
• Customizability:
  • Robust vehicle customization system: colors, accessories, and unlockable “loot boxes” (via gameplay, not monetization) (37:26–38:57).
• Soundtrack:
  • Mostly original, energetic tracks—strong drum and bass vibes.
  • Blessing wishes for more vocal tracks or licensed pop-punk to reach Burnout/Need for Speed highs.
  • “This track's rocking ... For like having just purely instrumental tracks, it's a strong thumbs up for me.” – Blessing (21:07–21:57)
• Car Audio:
  • "Feels satisfying ... when you shift gears and max out" – Blessing (53:23–53:51).

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5. Online, Split-Screen, and Modes

• Multiplayer:
  • 4-player split screen—a rarity today (36:56–37:18).
  • Online supports 16 players; during review, mostly devs and a few early users populating the lobbies (55:00–57:02).
  • “One online match last night with like two other players and I think one of them was a developer.” – Blessing (37:19)
• Mode Selection:
  • Arcade (customizable races, challenge modes), story, and multiplayer seamlessly accessible (36:44–38:53).
  • Deep user options to tweak races (laps, participants, custom rules) up to marathon-length (99 laps) (46:02–46:18).
• Skill & Progression:
  • Different characters (and their cars) have unique perks and handling, but stats are not always transparently shown (50:01–50:47).

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6. Critical Discussion: Praise & Critique

• What Screamer Nails:
  • A compelling, character-driven narrative that surprised both hosts.
  • Satisfying drift and boost mechanics once mastered.
  • Accessible customization, anime charm, and an energetic, genre-perfect soundtrack.
  • “Loot box” rewards are purely cosmetic—not predatory (14:51–15:07).
  • Deep accessibility settings.
• Room for Improvement:
  • Wish for side-swiping/takedown mechanics similar to Burnout to heighten the action (44:01–44:33).
  • Some story beats feel over-the-top, e.g., the $100 billion prize.
  • Reveal on-vehicle stats for more strategic pre-race choices.
• Standout Quote – Story Realism:
  • “$100 billion is such a non existent amount of money ... Like you could tell me that like two people in the world have $100 million.” – Blessing (07:36–07:47)

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7. Memorable & Fun Moments

• The Dog Can Drive:
  • Genuine awe and amusement at the “dog mechanic/driver” character, Gage, complete with dialogue and plot function (15:29–17:22).
  • “A driving dog is worth more than $100 billion.” – Andy (17:22)
• Exploding, Regenerating Dogs & Absurd Sci-Fi:
  • The “Echo” tech allows pets (and presumably drivers) to regenerate after self-destruction, leading to darkly comic speculation:
    • “Please kill me. I'm a thousand years old. Keep doing this. My legs don't work.” – Blessing (23:11)
• In-Game Language Diversity:
  • Celebrated for its ambition—characters speak their native tongues, with in-universe real-time translation (31:21–32:18).
• Lively Comparisons:
  • Frequent references to Burnout, San Francisco Rush, Mario Kart, Forza, and story-driven fighters, drawing both mechanical and nostalgic parallels.
• Community Interaction:
  • Highlighting chat involvement (“Waffle on the run” from chat joins the online race), encouragement for super chats and Patreon support.

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8. Hands-On, Arcade, and Online Play Highlights

• Arcade Mode Demo:
  • Andy and Blessing showcase multiple vehicles, perks, and teams.
  • Customization excitement (mirrors, team colors, “loot boxes”).
• Online Race Experience:
  • Blessing races devs and a community member—struggles but relishes the competition:
    • “I just want to finish the race, honestly. … At least not last place, ’cause I think it was, what, 16 players.” – Blessing (62:54–63:13)
• UI Praise:
  • Both hosts rave over the stylish menus and clear race HUD (45:30).

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9. Final Thoughts and Ratings

• Blessing’s Verdict:
  • “A game that Blessing said a nine out of, nine out of 10. ... I love, I love this video game.” (63:25, 63:27)
  • Racing is “about an 8/10,” but the story brings it to a 9/10 for overall experience.
• Andy’s Take:
  • “Super likable characters ... one that I’m really stoked to try out.” (63:27)
• Community Call:
  • Encouragement to play, like, subscribe, leave a comment, and engage with Kinda Funny (63:13–64:03).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Game/Series History: 05:40–06:21
• Visual Novel/Story Breakdown: 10:13–10:27
• Voice Cast & Name Drops: 04:28–04:47
• Character Customization Demo: 37:26–38:53
• Discussion on Drift & Handling: 12:25–13:41
• Music & Soundtrack: 21:03–22:19, 52:54–53:01
• Online Play Segment: 55:00–63:13
• Major Critiques & Q&A: 44:01–45:23, 50:01–51:08

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Notable Quotes

• “It was really that slack that made me go, oh, shit. Blessing loves this. And this is something we gotta really kind of look after, you know?” – Andy (02:17)
• “Like the visual novel stuff is where I was like, oh, all right. I didn't realize this was going to be more like this kind of vibe … The further the story goes, the more I was like, this is awesome.” – Blessing (10:17)
• “A driving dog is worth more than $100 billion.” – Andy (17:22)
• “Please kill me. I'm a thousand years old. Keep doing this. My legs don't work.” – Blessing (23:11)
• “$100 billion is such a non existent amount of money ... Like you could tell me that like two people in the world have $100 million.” – Blessing (07:36)
• “This soundtrack’s incredible ... Nothing like a racing game with drum and bass.” – Andy (52:54–53:01)
• “I love, I love this video game.” – Blessing (63:27)

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Conclusion

“Screamer” emerges as a must-try for story-driven and arcade racing fans seeking something outside the Forzas and Need for Speeds of the world. Its combination of sharp narrative, unique visual flair, satisfying drift mechanics, and a punchy soundtrack earn it high marks from Blessing—despite minor quibbles over mechanical depth and transparency. The Kinda Funny crew’s hands-on demo provides both newcomers and racing vets an enthusiastic, detailed look at a worthy genre contender.

Transcript

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing]

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[Andy Cortez]

Hello.

[Blessing]

Bless Andy. How's it going?

[Andy Cortez]

I'm great. We're about to check out Screamer, where gamescast plays a game that I, you know, wasn't really on my radar a whole lot until you kind of mentioned it Here and there. And then it was really that slack that made me go, oh, shit. Blessing loves this. And this is something we gotta really kind of look after, you know?

[Blessing]

I'm curious what will happen when more people get their hands on Skreemer? Cause the review embargo was really interesting. It was Sunday at 4am our time, which is an insane time for review embargo. And also it's a very busy season, so I don't think that many people got to review it. Like, when I checked Metacritic, I think it only had like 20 or so reviews. Okay. And so I expect maybe a few more to trickle in or maybe word of mouth. We'll see how many people end up falling in love with this game the way that I did. But it was very gratifying seeing Tim also play it during the weekend. Be like, dude, this shit is awesome. Okay. Thank God it's not just me.

[Andy Cortez]

It feels like such a Tim game. I don't know what's happening here.

[Blessing]

Oh, so we're playing on a guest account, so we can start from the top. But I think we should be able to. Will it not let us play with. Oh, yeah, don't show this. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know this would happen.

[Andy Cortez]

I didn't even know what the guest account stuff was.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I assumed it would just. Oh, okay, cool.

[Andy Cortez]

No, I backed out. I backed out. I. I wasn't sure. Does it just let us go? No. Yeah, it's making us.

[Blessing]

Hit. Okay, one more time. If this doesn't work, we can just play them out.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, cool. There we go.

[Blessing]

Nobody signed into this PlayStation.

[Andy Cortez]

Nobody signed. Please, God, I don't know how that works. Yeah, we have to hide Grand Theft Auto 6.

[Blessing]

Oh, my gosh.

[Andy Cortez]

That's the right one, right, guys? About a six.

[Blessing]

Yeah, six is the next one. Are you playing Dutch?

[Andy Cortez]

Dutch? Here's the thing, Dutch. All right, let's see here. Driving aids. Oh, yeah.

[Blessing]

This is kind of what I was talking about with, like, some of the accessibility stuff.

[Andy Cortez]

All right, One heavy control. Subtitles B. Yeah, let's see here. On audio off.

[Blessing]

Tinnitus reduction. Like, here we go.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn, they got voice chat.

[Blessing]

Why there's online. Oh. Which I man, I for. I had so much to talk about during the review. And, like, I honestly didn't even get to it. All because I neglected to mention that the villain is played by Troy Baker in this game.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, shit.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Troy Baker. And then the main guy, Hiroshi, is played by Alex Lee.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Blessing]

Yeah. Who's like.

[Andy Cortez]

He's Luke And Steven, he was here in our studio.

[Blessing]

And he was here in our studio. And he also played, I think, junpei in Persona 3 also. Kravit. I'm realizing that we don't have chat up.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, that's okay, though.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. We can look at super chats later.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

But, yeah, so I guess the plan is you want me to kind of hop in, so see what the story's like. We'll hit the ad, and then after that, you'll show us some of the cooler later game stuff. That is not spoilery.

[Blessing]

That is not spoilery. Yeah, because the way the game starts is it essentially puts you right into the story. And the story mode does a really good job of slowly introducing mechanics and also looping that in with what's going on in world to explain why these mechanics are what they are. Like the boost system, the entropy system that I talked about during the review. Oh, they also have a nice anime intro here.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, nice. Yeah. Okay, perfect.

[Blessing]

Yeah. I wanted to start off with story, and then later on I'll show you what just arcade gameplay looks like.

[Andy Cortez]

So sick.

[Blessing]

Come on. Yeah, there's that. There's also what I wanted to mention. Doesn't really matter. Also. Oh, Kev, do you have. Oh, never mind. Also, Screamer is an old franchise. I don't know if you knew this.

[Andy Cortez]

I didn't know that.

[Blessing]

Yeah, there are, like, multiple Screamer games.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, that looks so fire.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Back in, like, the 90s, and I think maybe even early, early 2000s. But correct me if I'm wrong.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I don't. I mean, the name Screamer evokes Dreamcast game, you know, Like, I just. I never really had. I didn't even. Obviously, I didn't even know it was a franchise at one point, which made me wonder why name the game Screamer? I didn't know, like, what it was about.

[Blessing]

It was a franchise. It was nothing like this, though. Like, I was looking up gameplay, and it just looks like an old SIMI kind of racer, but street race, like, hold on, let me look it up. Let me look it up. Because I remember they're being like streamer 4x4 and like that. But it, like, did not have this anime aesthetic whatsoever. I guess it probably was like street racing type

[Andy Cortez]

erase with being Slits. Any Fast and Furious references? No. Damn. No. They had that.

[Blessing]

That actuarial reference.

[Andy Cortez]

There it is.

[Blessing]

It was for the Ms. DOS. Oh, wow.

[Andy Cortez]

Holy.

[Blessing]

The first game was 1993. Screamer 2 was 96.

[Game Character D]

Why would Anaconda Core care about winning some Racing tournament anyway. Sure, a cash prize is nothing to them.

[Andy Cortez]

You could have changed your fate. Would you

[Game Character E]

be.

[Andy Cortez]

Caterpillar said $100 billion.

[Game Character D]

I couldn't care less. What a stranger with terrible tastes and aliases texted you. If Quinn could see us now.

[Andy Cortez]

Roshi. What?

[Game Character D]

Hiroshi.

[Andy Cortez]

Hiroshi is cool, right?

[Blessing]

100 billion is such a non existent amount of money.

[Andy Cortez]

It's a giveaway, you know. I mean, you know, Elon's close to a trillion, but 100 billion is such a funny thing.

[Blessing]

Like you could tell me that like two people in the world have $100 million.

[Andy Cortez]

Gabriel. That's the dude you were talking about.

[Blessing]

That's the guy. We need cars.

[Andy Cortez]

Fast ones. Oh, fuck yeah, dude.

[Blessing]

Again, I the buy in that I have to this game and this and its story in this world. Like as I'm rewatching this, I'm like, let's go. We're so robbed.

[Game Character D]

A decade working as a pmc putting away money just to flush it down the toilet.

[Blessing]

I know, but we need a way of getting to Gabrielle.

[Andy Cortez]

Right? I look at that, I go, Gabriel.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Gabrielle sound. I mean that. That's usually like I knew a lot of Gabrielle women growing up. Yeah. So like it's, you know, I'm interested, you know. Fascinating.

[Blessing]

Gabrielle, I think speaks French. He doesn't speak English. So like I think it's just based off of the country he's from. Caterpillar seems to think this is our only chance.

[Andy Cortez]

Who the heck's Caterpillar? Are we about to find out.

[Game Character D]

Jesus Christ. Caterpillar again.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, wow.

[Game Character D]

Hiroshi. A stranger detects you from an untraceable number and refers to the themselves as an insect.

[Andy Cortez]

Gabrielle Union not a reliable source of information.

[Blessing]

No, actually I think that's about the way you're thinking. It's a lead. It's.

[Game Character E]

It's something.

[Andy Cortez]

I think some people in the games cast chat automatically assumed visual novel. No voice acting. Yeah, but all voice act.

[Blessing]

It's all voice acting.

[Andy Cortez]

That's cool.

[Game Character D]

We're wasting time. We all know how to drive.

[Andy Cortez]

Ah, but not like screamers. That's cool. How many other. How many other comparisons you got, Frederick?

[Blessing]

Metaphors is.

[Game Character E]

Thanks, Frederick. Sure.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Let's see what these things can do.

[Andy Cortez]

And by things, they're talking about cars.

[Blessing]

It's funny. Like this is the moment, I guess before we even get into the racing.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing]

Like the visual novel stuff is where I was like, oh, all right. Like I didn't realize this was going to be more like this kind of vibe. I thought it was going to Be more cutscenes. But then like the more. The further the story goes, the more I was like, this is awesome.

[Andy Cortez]

That rocks.

[Blessing]

Okay, let's see.

[Andy Cortez]

Accelerate using R2. Brake using L2. Use left and left stick to steer, right to drift. Steering and drifting work independently of each other and can be combined to handle corners more effectively. I mean it looks so great. Looks amazing. It looks so great. All right, keep drifting. All right, so I like the little side objectives on the far right.

[Blessing]

Yeah, well, that'll be your main objective.

[Andy Cortez]

That real bad.

[Blessing]

So this is just to get you into it, get you used to the controls.

[Andy Cortez]

How often you letting your finger off the pedal?

[Blessing]

A lot of the times if I'm drifting around a hard corner, it took me through half the game to kind of figure out the rhythm of take my hand off the pedal while drifting while also even putting on the brake or whatever.

[Andy Cortez]

Right.

[Blessing]

But it's like the sharper the corner, like this corner, I might put in a little tap of the brake as I'm around.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha.

[Blessing]

Of get a feel for it.

[Andy Cortez]

I do like the dual sense though. Like the vibrations feel nice.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah, yeah. You feel it in the. The triggers.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, the. The adaptive triggers feel great too.

[Blessing]

Which is funny cuz as I was playing at my desk I was worried cuz I had my headphones on and I was playing some of this game and I'm like, I wonder if everybody just hears like the. The crackle of my. My controller.

[Andy Cortez]

What was that? No, I thought that was a ramp. I could maybe jump up.

[Blessing]

See, that was another thing. It's funny because like early on I had a lot of these things of like interesting. No traffic, no ramps. I thought there would be like more ramps in an arcade racer. And then all that stuff kind of like faded away as I. As I played more.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, because when you talk about your goal always wanting you. You chasing that Burnout high.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Where. What exactly is it that that makes you chase the Burnout? Are you talking about just feel. Is it one of those things where it's like mainly maybe it's just tied in nostalgia or is it like what exactly is it?

[Blessing]

It's three things. It's speed. Because Burnout has a really fast sense of speed. And I think part of that might even be camera tricks of like how they make everything right.

[Andy Cortez]

The fov.

[Blessing]

Yeah, the fov. Like how everything looks blurry as they're going, but they have a really good sense of speed. There's also the drifting of Burnout, which feels great. Which this game captures a Little bit for me as well. And then there's like, the aggression, right? The takedown and like, that, which this game kind of tries to do, doesn't do it as good as Burnout, but I appreciate the fact that it's there.

[Game Character D]

Sorry to interrupt, but while we're out here gripping our.

[Andy Cortez]

Because I'm still chasing San Francisco Rush, like, and it's just. It's a. Mainly a nostalgia thing, but I love going up a ramp and seeing my car just spin a shitload of times and try to land. You know what I mean? Like, and that's one thing I always wished we should probably for when playing Forza. Like, Forza is so player friendly in that it doesn't let you accidentally launch off the ground without you wanting to. It wants to keep you grounded so that it, you know, even though that's not how physics necessarily work, your car is, like, a lot heavier in that game. They don't want you flying all over the place and crashing. They want the game to be friendly with you, you know? But there are times where I'm like, I wish there was a low gravity or, like, lower gravity so that I can.

[Blessing]

Yeah. What's funny is that Burnout's the same way. Burnout doesn't have you, like, launching that often.

[Andy Cortez]

It was born lead.

[Game Character D]

I don't care what we do as long as it ends with Gabriel's six feet.

[Andy Cortez]

They're just trying to get him ousted.

[Blessing]

What's funny is that, like, early on, I'm like, oh, well, these are the main characters. They're the good guys, right? And the more you play, the more you're like, oh, they just want to kill this guy. Like, that's their whole mission, you know, Nobody here is really a. A quote unquote good guy.

[Game Character D]

Quinn founded the Banshees, a female led private military.

[Andy Cortez]

And there's the adult language.

[Game Character D]

Yeah, Micro dick.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Game Character D]

It's her legacy. We're not changing it.

[Blessing]

Greg plays in front of Ben. Ben's like, what is micro dick, Greg?

[Andy Cortez]

Ben said micro dick at school again.

[Blessing]

I think we've got a tournament to join.

[Andy Cortez]

We've got a tournament to join everyone.

[Blessing]

And this is what I'm talking about, where you unlock things.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay? Mirrors, color. Okay. And that's the loot box.

[Blessing]

Yeah, that's like what I was saying. Like, the quote unquote loot boxes. Like, not really loot boxes, but just automatic, like, randomized, like, cosmetic things that you're collecting. So basically, loot box.

[Andy Cortez]

Hello.

[Blessing]

Also, if you saw on the loading screen, like, this is Episode two. It's like an episode is over is basically one race.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a racer.

[Blessing]

The dog can drive. Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

That's amazing.

[Game Character E]

The name's Gage.

[Andy Cortez]

How the dog do that?

[Blessing]

You know, it's a good question. Shout out to gauge. Just like letting the chest all the way out. Beautiful in the abs.

[Game Character D]

Excuse you.

[Andy Cortez]

You're here for the great hair.

[Game Character E]

Yes. Well, Mr. A has a strict no weapons policy. So unless you want to forfeit your chance at $100 billion.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. Like is the person giving that out then bankrupt?

[Blessing]

Yeah. I was like where are you getting this?

[Andy Cortez]

Is all their money or is it like it's in my will?

[Blessing]

Because if I'm getting. If I'm giving away $100 billion, like I gotta have multiple trillion. Cuz even if you have 1 trillion, it's like I'm not giving away 100 billion on a street race.

[Andy Cortez]

Black doggy, thank you for 61 months. As love to the Cave crew. Thank you so much.

[Blessing]

Thank you. Also while we're here, remember you can super chat in if you have any questions. Also shout out to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney. The Psalm 20.

[Game Character E]

No, no, nothing like that. It's just. No offense, but you've had your sweaty palms all over them and I'm not a fan of sweat or oil or any fluid really.

[Blessing]

Aren't you a mechanic?

[Game Character E]

The cleanest mechanic you'll ever meet.

[Andy Cortez]

I think Gage needs armor.

[Game Character E]

And no funny business like getting another gun in between races. You'll be checked before every race, immediately disqualified and arrested if need.

[Andy Cortez]

Does that mean that they had problems with people just sticking out guns out the car windows? You got to assume that they had some issues.

[Blessing]

We got to. We got to crack down on that.

[Game Character E]

Me? God. No Fer me will do the honors.

[Andy Cortez]

The dog.

[Blessing]

This is so cute.

[Game Character D]

What do you mean?

[Andy Cortez]

We'd be freak. Are you driving? A driving dog is worth More than $100 billion.

[Game Character E]

You really think a man offering up $100 billion can't afford to have all the police in Neoray on his payroll? So are we good to enter the tournament? Grab your cars and meet me back here. I just have to make a simple modification or 5.

[Andy Cortez]

What I need is like a big parking lot to. With the. You know what I mean.

[Game Character E]

Yes, of course.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm sure it's definitely harder to do it and more discouraging to do it. You're in a track already, you know.

[Blessing]

Yeah. And they're just okay with this?

[Game Character E]

Of course.

[Andy Cortez]

The J Pop group.

[Blessing]

Yeah. These are the Criminals I talked about. Or those are the actual, like, corporate dudes.

[Andy Cortez]

Space Channel five crew.

[Blessing]

Space Channel five. These. These are the criminal?

[Game Character E]

In a manner of speaking.

[Andy Cortez]

So is Gage just a neutral party? Yeah, Works with everybody.

[Blessing]

He works with, like, the organizer.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Of the tournament.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm assuming that's the booster that lets us hit people.

[Blessing]

Let's give you quite a few things.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, wow.

[Blessing]

Yeah. You'll learn throughout. You'll learn it throughout the experience.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow. Hiroshi Fredrick and Roisin Roishin try out for the tournament while testing some strange new tech. Episode three begins now.

[Blessing]

Yeah. So not every episode has a race, but an Echo.

[Game Character E]

Echo. Echo. Tough crowd. The Echo is the most advanced technology the world has ever seen.

[Blessing]

Satisfaction

[Andy Cortez]

worth a hundred billion.

[Blessing]

That's the one thing in the writers room where, like, if I was gonna be like, what if we did, like, 100 million? I feel like that's still, like, a lot of money.

[Game Character E]

Test and you'll be a part of Mr. A's tournament.

[Game Character D]

Wait, you mean we're not part of it now? But you already messed with our cars.

[Game Character E]

Mr. A is highly social destruction.

[Blessing]

Chat says bless. I was playing tournament earlier, and there are secret routes to take. Found two and didn't realize the game had any. Yes. I didn't realize that until I was pretty far in and I was like, wait a second, what's this? And I found a secret route through a track. They're hard to get to, though.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn. They can, like, jump through the little, like, cave entrance in my car.

[Blessing]

But, like, you gotta, like, know exact. Are you talking on the beach level? Yeah, I remember that. But it's like the. The shortcuts are so, like, hidden that you would have to, like, know the track. Know the track and be able to be like, oh, I know what's coming up. I'm a drift real hard right into this thing.

[Andy Cortez]

And is the drift adding a boost? No. No. Okay, so we're not getting like a Mario Kart kind of.

[Blessing]

Oh, I see. You're saying no, you're not really. Okay, maybe. Well, you know, I said every character has their own abilities. I know some. There are. There's at least a couple characters. Maybe one character that has. Has it so that when they drift, they gain meter in some form.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

But it's more. It's more. So they're not teaching you shift yet, but when you shift, that'll. That'll get you the boost.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to get so good at drifting. It's just. It's gonna take a while. It's gonna Take a while. Chat. Yeah, yeah.

[Blessing]

Just be patient with yourself.

[Andy Cortez]

How's the soundtrack for the rest? For the whole game? Because this, this track's rocking.

[Blessing]

Yeah, this track's rocking. I think the soundtrack is overall great. Not my favorite racing game soundtrack, but I honestly think the only thing they could do to really bring it up would be to have vocal tracks. Because I associate my favorite racing games

[Andy Cortez]

with having like, like D D with a kind of a woman over with a lot of reverb.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Or like I, I, I think I realized too that just like the way we License soundtrack has just changed a

[Andy Cortez]

lot over the years. Yeah.

[Blessing]

Cause like, I'm thinking of Burnout where it's like they had My Chemical Romance and Burnout. Like they had like Lazy Generation being the main theme. And when I'm playing a game like this, I almost like expect there to be some sort of like, you know. Yeah. Vocal track or pop punk or whatever it is. That said, for like having just purely instrumental tracks, it's a strong thumbs up for me

[Andy Cortez]

because when I think of like racing game, I don't know why my mind, especially a racing game like look that looks like this and presents itself in this way.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

My mind immediately goes to that one track in Luminous. Luminous. Yeah, the, with the, with the woman singing on it.

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You know what I mean? Like, I forget exactly what that song was, did I? No. Okay, cutscene. What are the lyrics in that song? Chat, I need you.

[Blessing]

I can only hear the Tetris like one.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, that's a cute car.

[Blessing]

They all have like their own unique cars. I love it.

[Game Character E]

Initiate self destruct now.

[Andy Cortez]

What? Holy Jesus Christ.

[Blessing]

That's the Echo right there.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn.

[Blessing]

That's what the echo does.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Game Character E]

Someone's earned themselves a treat, haven't they?

[Blessing]

That's kind of a up thing to do though.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

To blow up your dog to show that he can regenerate.

[Game Character D]

What?

[Andy Cortez]

I mean, that's kind of the dream. To have a dog that can't die though.

[Game Character E]

I told you, the echo is the most.

[Blessing]

Until he starts suffering. Please kill me. I'm a thousand years old. Keep doing this. My legs don't work.

[Andy Cortez]

My insides are ancient. I can't swallow food anymore.

[Blessing]

That's.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, that's probably the song peak. Yeah, the. I'm trying to think of the lyrics. It's killing me though now, so.

[Game Character E]

Really?

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, Mr. A's calling.

[Game Character E]

Fascinating.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, her name is Ron. I thought his name was Ron.

[Game Character E]

Honestly, it's a relief. Installing and uninstalling echoes all day plays Hell with my back. That reminds me. The echo is not to leave the premises of the tournament. I have an echolocator that tracks all echoes within a certain range. If an echo leaves that range, it will self destruct. And neither car nor driver will be coming back from that explosion.

[Blessing]

Banner SN says. It was great meeting you, Andy, on. On Saturday at the Willem show. Did you ever find Tam? You looking for.

[Andy Cortez]

I did find Tam, yeah. At the. Yeah, I didn't find him. I needed what I needed him for. Great meeting you, by the way. Bander. I needed him to buy me alcohol.

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And the line was real long. And I just needed him to like each other. Can you. Can you do that?

[Blessing]

Yeah. Help me out. Please.

[Andy Cortez]

I need help, man.

[Blessing]

I'm too sober on this thing.

[Game Character E]

After all, every human has a universal language translator installed in their temple. I just modified mine to translate human and dog languages. Now before you go, I need just one more thing. Your team name.

[Game Character D]

Sure. It's the band.

[Blessing]

Reapers.

[Game Character E]

The Green Reapers. The Green Reaper.

[Andy Cortez]

Why green? Yeah, is it.

[Blessing]

You know. I don't know. Why Green

[Andy Cortez]

Reapers?

[Game Character D]

The dumbest name I've ever heard is what it is.

[Blessing]

I want to.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't know.

[Game Character E]

I remember one team called the Wheel Winners. That was worse.

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe when you said the first team name was Green Reapers. I thought we were going to go with Legends of the Hidden Temple. The Purple Penguins, the Orange Iguanas or whatever. And then so when you started naming the other names, I was like, oh, that's way cooler. I love that. There's not like a theme. Tangle. No, no. That's sick as hell.

[Blessing]

Like the jtop Crew. I always forget their name. The Jupiter Stormers. No, that's the Scientists.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a great name.

[Blessing]

The Jupiter Stormers.

[Andy Cortez]

Right?

[Blessing]

So cool. The K Pop Crew is also. They have a cool name. And that's just the name of their group. Like they're not. That's like not even their racing team name.

[Game Character E]

She never wants to see me again. Well, that's easy for you to say.

[Blessing]

Craig Force Ramonda. That's the.

[Andy Cortez]

That's badass. That's them. This?

[Blessing]

No, this is the Jupiter Storm.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. Sick ass suits, right? I just want like a headpiece that has those cool like kind of anime. Like it's part of me. I needed to like live, you know.

[Blessing]

Damn.

[Andy Cortez]

Because that dude has like a cool little headpiece.

[Blessing]

Lavinia. One of my favorite characters.

[Andy Cortez]

Is she Brazilian? Is this Portuguese? I can't.

[Blessing]

You know, I never figured it out. I think you're right.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, Maybe Italian Kevin is saying Italian. Get Nick in here. Nick could find out. God, I love the look so much.

[Blessing]

Yeah, right? Also, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna two thumbs up to the soundtrack now that I'm hearing these songs again. Now I'm actually paying attention to it.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, man. Come on, come on, come on. I just gotta quit drifting and just drive. I'm trying to drift too much.

[Blessing]

Yeah, you don't have to drift everything.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I just got. I just gotta. I just gotta drive. Cat. Maybe hit a little break here and there.

[Blessing]

Yeah. After this episode, I think that's when we'll switch up. Let me hop into the arcade mode over on my save file.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, that sounds great. Oh, I do like, kind of like just hitting that moment where, you know, all right, let. Let out the gas drift a little bit. Like, I don't know. It just feels great.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

And the controls feel awesome, man.

[Blessing]

I had a race where it all just clips get together where I'm like, oh, okay, this is how I turn perfectly. Like, I'm turning without even. I'm turning hard corners without even hitting

[Andy Cortez]

the walls or whatever. That dude's headpiece. I want one of those.

[Blessing]

I'd never be able to take it off.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Part of my head molded to your. To your head.

[Game Character E]

Hold your horsepower. I'm coming.

[Blessing]

Always.

[Andy Cortez]

Just got the chest out.

[Blessing]

Always. Will be our kind of funny racing team name.

[Andy Cortez]

Maybe like the.

[Game Character E]

You always did cut it close.

[Andy Cortez]

Like the Pizza Hut Dinner Box or like, like Pizza Dinner Box. Yeah. What do they call that? Big ass meal that has, like all the different. Like, it also has the dessert and the bread.

[Blessing]

Oh, you're talking about. Oh, what's it called? The.

[Andy Cortez]

I feel like it best encompasses us,

[Blessing]

you know, I mean, it does have the box. The.

[Andy Cortez]

A lot of different meals, the family, whatever the hell.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Somebody in chat will get it.

[Andy Cortez]

What makes Blonde lady your favorite?

[Blessing]

She has really good dynamics with some of the other characters on the other teams. And, like, there's like a specific storyline with her and another character that's just like, very wholesome in a way where I was like, this is. This is nice. It's hard to say without spoiling, but yeah, I want to call it the Hot Box, but that's not what it is.

[Andy Cortez]

No, it's definitely not it.

[Game Character E]

Thank you for your kind words. I think.

[Andy Cortez]

Gregor

[Game Character E]

by Jupiter Stormer Industries.

[Andy Cortez]

Swedish. He's Swedish.

[Blessing]

Let him talk some more.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, she's just being big Dinner box. Is that it? Maybe.

[Blessing]

Oh, I think it is. The Big Dinner box.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I think that's it. I think that's our name.

[Blessing]

That's our racing name. I'm so bad with languages.

[Andy Cortez]

There goes German.

[Game Character E]

Okay, that's odd, because I thought only a fool would install bionic arms that are unpredictable, volatile prototypes. JSI has hundreds of bionic prosthetic devices that went through rigorous testing, many of them by me. Models that give you godlike strength or cook an egg in the palm of your hand. Even from here, I can tell that those contain enough energy to power a small city or blow it up.

[Andy Cortez]

They just all speak different languages and are somehow translated. Yeah, yeah. In the future, everybody knows that chat. You just like. You just have different. Everybody's got them implants, you know? Yeah.

[Blessing]

It's like the TikTok ads I get where, like, have you ever seen these where people will have earbuds on and then, like, if they're in another country, people speak Japanese, but, like, they'll hear it in English.

[Andy Cortez]

That's so cool.

[Blessing]

Technology is crazy.

[Andy Cortez]

That's the future.

[Game Character E]

Including those arms.

[Andy Cortez]

I don't understand that language or I don't recognize that language. Rather not understanding.

[Blessing]

You understand, obviously.

[Game Character E]

I never could say no to you, Wax.

[Blessing]

I will say, playing Tekken, the latest one has prepped me for this because in that game, they also all speak different languages. And it kind of bugged me then, but then I was just like, whatever.

[Andy Cortez]

I love that. I love how in Overwatch, the enemy's old lines are their native languages, but your teammates are your English language.

[Blessing]

Oh, that's.

[Andy Cortez]

I love that they do that.

[Game Character E]

Chances.

[Andy Cortez]

Lavinia, Richie, Antinori. New character. So new character, meaning new character unlocked or just like, hey, we're introducing you now. You're going to be her for the next however many episodes.

[Blessing]

New character unlocked for, like, arcade and. Yeah, so like bas. Every. Every episode, they'll switch it up to some extent. Right. You'll return many times playing the same characters, but there's not really a consistent. All right, this is Lavinia's thing. This is this thing. Like, it's all pretty much like, whatever. Whoever we need you to. We need you to play as for this episode is who we'll have you to play. Have you play as.

[Andy Cortez]

Cool. Well, we're going to hit an ad break right here. Bless. And then when we come back, you're going to show off some of what the arcade mode is. Different challenge modes.

[Blessing]

Different challenge modes. We'll hop into other parts of the game.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, Sick. We'll see in a bit. Chat.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

This episode is brought to you by patreon.com kindafunny yeah yeah yeah yeah. We'd love you to come give us $10 and get all of our shows ad free. Get your daily dose of me and get good karma because Patreon is the best place that gives us the best revenue share on the Kinda Funny subscription. But if that's not your style, we'd love it if you came over and signed up for a free account. That's right. A free patreon.com kinda funny follow gets you the weekly schedule, access to Quips, Patreon's version of Twitter, and as an exclusive bonus, this Friday, March 27th, it gets you access to a live Greg Way. That's right at 9:30am Pacific 30 minutes before kinda Funny Games Daily, I'll go live, answer chats and record the day's Greg Way. Any free member can come ask me questions in the chat. What have you got to lose? Sign up for a free sub on patreon.com kinda funny and I'll see you Friday, March 27th on Patreon at 9:30am AM Pacific. Who else are you going to talk to?

[Blessing]

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[Andy Cortez]

I have created the most advanced AI Soldier. The wait is over.

[Blessing]

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[Andy Cortez]

We are looking for something. Something you've discover and some of us

[Blessing]

will stop at nothing to get it ready.

[Andy Cortez]

The countdown is complete. There's no going back.

[Blessing]

Our directive is clear. Hang on. Tron Ares now streaming on Disney. Rated PG13 to realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us

[Andy Cortez]

to face each threat head on.

[Blessing]

We've earned our place in the fight

[Andy Cortez]

for our nation's future. We are Marines.

[Blessing]

We were made for this.

[Sponsor Voice]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast. Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state.

[Blessing]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing]

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[Andy Cortez]

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[Blessing]

And we're back. And we're on my profile. So we're on my save and I wanted to do this on my save because I have just way more things unlocked. If you go to the arcade mode on the other save that we just did, it would look like a ghost town.

[Andy Cortez]

Pretty barren.

[Blessing]

Yeah, it would look very barren in a way that's not fun. But I can show you the full character select screen and stuff like that here.

[Andy Cortez]

So yeah, let's.

[Blessing]

And other modes. I like the main menu even. So this is the main menu. Of course, the tournament is the mode that we were just doing. But they got multiplayer which if you go in there, they have. Oh, I should have brought this up in the review. They have four player split screen.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, wow.

[Blessing]

Which is something you never see. That's awesome nowadays. But then you also have online. I didn't get to play much online obviously because it was the review period. And like, I don't think Screamer was a. Is a popular enough the game to have like a million reviewers. And so anytime I try to check online, I just couldn't match up with anybody. I played one online match last night with like two other players and I think one of them was a developer.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, gotcha.

[Blessing]

So now the game's on early access. Maybe we hop into that. But you have Gage's workshop as well, which is what I'm talking about for like the.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, customization.

[Blessing]

Yeah. So each of these keys, I love that it's. The keys belong to a different character. Each row is a different team, as you can see. But like if. Let's say let's go to Roy Sheen's car here. Yeah, you can see like the lock things. So you have to unlock different.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, this rocks.

[Blessing]

But yeah, you can.

[Andy Cortez]

This is.

[Blessing]

Have all these different customizations

[Andy Cortez]

and you could like, based on what I saw earlier with like, you unlocked a new color for the rear view mirrors. You can get that granular with it, I believe.

[Blessing]

So let's see here. Oh, actually you. You have to buy it because that's one thing I didn't figure out during the review is I went into this, to this menu to like mess around a little bit. But I didn't get that far beyond like looking at the preset ones. When you get down to customization pack They're. They have, like, the cart symbols on there. So I wonder if that's a thing you have to just.

[Andy Cortez]

Then, like, what happens if you hit X in there?

[Blessing]

Nothing. Oh, nothing.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, gotcha.

[Blessing]

Yeah, it just makes that sound effect. So, yeah, I wasn't able to figure that part out. Part of it out.

[Andy Cortez]

Which was your favorite car to use?

[Blessing]

Favorite car to use is a good question.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, I love that their team is just cards. Like. Yeah, Access cards. That's funny.

[Blessing]

I fucked with these guys over here. Gabriel's car actually, I thought was pretty fun to use.

[Andy Cortez]

That looks like a Porsche.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Or like a Batmobile almost, too.

[Blessing]

And honestly, like, Hiroshi's car is sick. Just for, like. I like the extra boost that you get. So let me hop over to the.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, because you mentioned that some of the teams, they have the different perks.

[Blessing]

Yes.

[Andy Cortez]

It's not just character by character, but it's like. So this team has a perk.

[Blessing]

No, it's character by character. But you have the regular free for all races. I meant to bring up the team race during the review, but I'll bring it up now. Right. So team races are basically your racing as a team. You can do duos or you can do trios, because every team has three people. Team races are determined both by placement and also how many other teams you blow up. Like, you take out and then it accumulation points at the end. Whoever has the most points wins the team race. Probably to duo, because I think duo's more manageable. But yeah, they have the characters grouped up by their teams. Right. And so you have like, again. Oh, yeah, that's right. So you have the Kagawa Kai here, which are the criminals. You have Green Reapers here. You have Anaconda Corp. You have Strike Force Ramonda. And then over here you have Jupiter Stormers. Let's hop into. I got this.

[Andy Cortez]

I've got this. How long do some of the races get? Are there ones where it's like five laps or, you know.

[Blessing]

Yeah, you'll have two lap races, three lap races, and then some five lap races.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Yeah. We should be laying through top into the grade.

[Andy Cortez]

Meaning on the left side. Is that meaning that you completed that with the next grade, or is it saying this is a harder map?

[Blessing]

I think it means you completely. I completed with an S grade, but I was never actually able to like, figure that out. Figure that out.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. This music rocks that. I love this soundtrack. Sick, right? Those visuals look so good. It's certainly got the visual sauce, man. Like, they. It has it a very good Visual personality and identity. And the entropy gauge is on the top right.

[Blessing]

Top right, yeah. Okay, so you'll see here right now I have like one of my boost things filled up now if I wanted to, I can use boost by holding L1.

[Andy Cortez]

I see.

[Blessing]

I can also use shield by tapping R1. And then once I use boost, you'll see it there. There it is. The entropy starts to fill. Once I get two of those in there, I can then use the strike ability to try to take somebody out.

[Andy Cortez]

And what does the shield look like? Is it just like a bumble shield or is it like.

[Blessing]

It looks like, I don't know, like electricity is flowing through my car. Yeah, there's. Oh, I missed it. But the L1 you saw pop up was the extra boost if I hit that.

[Andy Cortez]

I like that challenge of the quick sort of response, the quick reaction time. Yeah, you need to hit that quickly.

[Blessing]

Yeah, because that's on top of like me hitting that triangle right there because I hitting that warrant so I get an extra one and then. Yeah, hitting the L1 right there is like a nice little 2te.

[Andy Cortez]

Makes sense to not have traffic over here.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You know there's not a Walgreens we're driving by.

[Blessing]

Yeah. That was the thing is early on when they said illegal street races, I was like, oh, okay. So like we're going to be doing this on public roads. And then it's like, no, we have secluded areas which now, now that I've like finished the story, I'm like, okay, I get it. Like evil mega rich people like, okay, cool. You have the money to afford to take us elsewhere if you're illegal races.

[Andy Cortez]

Is there a hinted at year this is in?

[Blessing]

I think this is vague future.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Yeah. God damn.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn. So you got, you got flat.

[Blessing]

I got flat by Gabriel right there.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. I could see where some of the frustration would be of like, man, you were right in front of me and now I just hit a wall, you know, like, oh, like seeing the, the car parts in the street there. All right, line up a big strike. I want to see a big ass strike right here.

[Blessing]

Yeah. See those are really hard to line up there.

[Andy Cortez]

Are you gotta like be looking out for the straightaways and stuff.

[Blessing]

Yeah, you gotta be like drafting off of somebody really what it is. And then be there for a second. Like, let's see if I can get one on here. There we go. And then I think that that'll automatically give me an extra boost to use to fill up those gauges.

[Andy Cortez]

Great visual effects, the explosions.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

If it were up to you, if you were able to wave the magical game development wand from the magical game development wizard, what would you change? What would you like to see less of? What would you like to see more of?

[Blessing]

A good question.

[Andy Cortez]

More of?

[Blessing]

Honestly, I would like to see strikes, like, keep the mechanic, because I think there's. There's vision there. I like the idea, but I want to be able to strike people from the sides instead of just from the back.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Like, if I would go all the way, I'd be like. Just make it, like, burnout to where I am, like, straight up, like, hitting somebody against the wall. And, like, you can see they react to that and all that. Right. But at the very least, even if it is, like, all right, you can strike in the back or if you hold another button or something, you know, you strike from the side.

[Andy Cortez]

Got it shipped over.

[Blessing]

So there's. There's that. I mean, honestly, like I mentioned during the review, I like the story.

[Andy Cortez]

That's a good drift. The quality drift.

[Blessing]

I missed the me I was trying to stray. Damn it. So that guy's in overdrive, by the way. So he's gonna keep going until he hits a wall or something or until he runs out of overdrive.

[Andy Cortez]

And that's his perk.

[Blessing]

No. So overdrive, most characters have that. That's basically. If you let your strike, your entropy meter fill up 100%. You can press L3 and R3 to go into overdrive mode, and that'll just endlessly have you going faster. If you hit any other car, don't get taken out. Feels like I'm a longer, more consistent strike.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. I could see a creed. Brings up a great point.

[Blessing]

Surprise.

[Andy Cortez]

Side strikes aren't a thing with all this drifting. Yeah. I could see, like, a tail.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Like a boom.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Using your drift to kind of the. The positioning to strike somebody.

[Blessing]

Also, I love the ui. I know UI of this game is so good.

[Andy Cortez]

This looks so cool. Gabriel Merton, I think.

[Blessing]

Gabriel.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, so Mr. A's got that mask.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

You can't be named Mr. A with a mask like that. Like, Mr. A needs to be more of the dark, shadowy dude in the suit. If you have a mask like that, your name has to be Viper or something.

[Blessing]

You can also do a custom experience where they let you, like, get into the Duffy of what the rules are.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, okay.

[Blessing]

And so you want to control the, like, the amount of people playing and number of laps. Dude. Then the laps will go all the way to, I think, 99. If you really. If you really wanted to go for it.

[Andy Cortez]

You could do a long ass God.

[Blessing]

That you can allow for duplicates like change number of competitors, deactivate like specific to.

[Andy Cortez]

This is kind of like the customization of of feels like Super Battle Golf. Oh. Because you could go into there and be like, you know, turn off this items, turn off these items, whatever the hell.

[Blessing]

Exactly. Yeah. That's just the race or that's the team race mode. They also have a score challenge. Overdrive challenge. Overdrive challenge. I've not done. I think that's just how long can you stay in overdrive? If I remember correctly.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay.

[Blessing]

Oh, cool. And people online are popping up. I didn't realize it did that.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. The guy with the match had all like the first time I saw him was like, oh, he looks like the dude from from Gundam. That's the first thing I thought.

[Blessing]

Sport challenge is like another thing. I think it's just like a series of races.

[Andy Cortez]

Like are you by yourself in this? Or you do have NPCs you're fighting against?

[Blessing]

You have NPCs? Oh yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Let's see one of these.

[Blessing]

I picked a short one. Seemingly you can unlock here too. Like if I didn't have all the characters, I could unlock them of them through this mode if I wanted to. Let's go. Who do you want me to pick aside from the bottom row? I'm not gonna pick the bottom row because that's like you locked those characters at the end. But out of the main five teams, who you killing?

[Andy Cortez]

I, I, I love the visuals of the of this squad.

[Blessing]

Oh yeah. The Jupiter.

[Andy Cortez]

Jupiter Stormers. Yeah. So whoever you want there.

[Blessing]

See, Perfect Boost is powerful, but the timing required to activate changes. The first time Aisha's KO to explodes automatically activates an emergency shield. And then you can evolve the Echo system by using Sync Boost. Strike and Overdrive are more powerful.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay, go Aisha.

[Blessing]

We go Aisha. Wait. No. That's the eyes. That's Lavinia.

[Andy Cortez]

There we go.

[Blessing]

Let's do some. I like this forced 13 area. Just all like outdoorsy, foresty kind of tracks. I don't know.

[Andy Cortez]

The handling looks kind of bad. I, I disagree. I think it feels great. It's more of I'm really, really bad at. I wanted to get really good at the drifts immediately and it's going to take some doing. Yeah.

[Blessing]

I mean I think I felt similar when I first started playing as far as the handling, but I got used to it and now I love it.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, I think it feels really good. Those are Some massive cannons on the back of this car. It looks like a shuttle spaceship. Holy.

[Blessing]

I mean, it is. Yeah. My thing is, I always hit a. A boost if I can at the end of a turn.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, of course.

[Blessing]

The best slow down and then immediately spin back up.

[Andy Cortez]

Best feeling. Car's about to launch. Is there a Mario Kart style race start boost?

[Blessing]

Ask plc yes, there is, actually. You'll see it at the start of the race. Toward the bottom left. An L1 prompt will pop up.

[Andy Cortez]

And are most of the things quick time event sort of based, like timing based, like, when it comes to what the strike is, what the start is?

[Blessing]

Oh, yeah. Well, the boost is definitely, like, quick timing with, like, the meter coming in. And for. Well, not Aisha, but for Lavinia, the triangle is in a different spot each time. Like, for most characters, it's right at the center.

[Andy Cortez]

Now, the different teams and the different characters. Yeah, they obviously all have their own different special abilities. Are all of the cars to also be different where it's like, this one weighs heavier, this one turns better, There's a better acceleration.

[Blessing]

I don't. They. I. I couldn't find where they, like, tell you. Yeah, right. I couldn't find where they tell you any of the stats, but for sure they control differently. Like, I can feel it in.

[Andy Cortez]

In the drive. It might be one of those things that you have to, like, in Mario Kart, hit the button to then bring up the.

[Blessing]

Yeah, yeah, they for sure handle differently.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, I'm not playing chat. Oh, blessed.

[Blessing]

Oh, sorry. Yeah, I have controller.

[Andy Cortez]

That's why he's barely hitting the walls. For me, I'd be hitting the walls on stuff. Are you able to enable car damage, I. E. From crashing into walls? Ask Gilbert.

[Blessing]

There's a little bit of car damage, but it never gets too crazy. But, like, as you saw with when some of those explosions happened in the last race, you can see, like, the, like, parts of the car on the ground and. But, oh, If I can just get to what you call it, to overdrive. They're, like, so close.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn.

[Blessing]

Oh, we're so close to first place.

[Andy Cortez]

Dude, this track is crazy. Yeah, I love this. One more away. How close? Oh, the race is almost done. I think five laps. I. Never mind. We're only on three.

[Blessing]

Oh, okay.

[Andy Cortez]

We're only on three.

[Blessing]

I also got all those three.

[Andy Cortez]

He's definitely hitting overdrive. Here we go.

[Blessing]

There we go. To pop up. Yeah, I need. I need to line it up. It's also very sensitive to where if I hit a wall, I'M over. Like I'm. I'm. I'm exploding. About to burn out real quick.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, This track is so.

[Blessing]

This track is awesome. Yeah, yeah, you take it back. This soundtrack's incredible.

[Andy Cortez]

Nothing like a racing game with drum and bass. Like, it's just, it's. It's my favorite tandem of things. Oh, yeah, Like a skateboarding game. I need either thrash, fast, punk or hip hop. In a racing game. I need drum bass.

[Blessing]

Hit rock Joseph and chat asks, how's car audio? I like it. I'm not the biggest like car person. Like, if we're talking about like the details of how a car should sound or sound another car should sound, all that. But I like how it sounds when it's like, oh, I got a shift. Like I'm. I've hit. I don't. Again, I don't know the terms, but I've hit max capacity on like whatever gear I'm on. Like I need to shift. I think that sound when it kicks in is like such a good. Like it's such a good sound and it feels satisfied.

[Andy Cortez]

Fine.

[Blessing]

Feels satisfying. Especially when I then hit the gear shift.

[Andy Cortez]

Damn. This first place racer is nuts.

[Blessing]

Yeah, he's gone.

[Andy Cortez]

Where the hell are they?

[Blessing]

This is not like I'm hidden walls or anything.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, they're just gone. Gone. I wouldn't surprise you if like the announcers like actually first place crashed a long time ago. We never updated. Are there any other camera views? Ask Captain Awesome. Yes.

[Blessing]

Ooh, I have done some races in first person.

[Andy Cortez]

I'm so bad at first person racing. It's easily my least favorite in all games.

[Blessing]

Oh.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh no. God damn it. No.

[Blessing]

I played the first person. God damn.

[Andy Cortez]

That's the first person mode. We distracted him. Damn.

[Blessing]

Yeah, I did a couple races in first person because I was wanted to see what it'll be like with the drifting and it feels good.

[Andy Cortez]

Okay. Awesome. Well, is there anything else you'd like to show off us before we say goodbye? Ooh, maybe give me like a another cityish map.

[Blessing]

Another city. Okay, I got you.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Now, do we want to try an online race? Yeah, one online race.

[Andy Cortez]

Let's race against other people.

[Blessing]

See what we should do. What we should have done. If I thought ahead, bring in another controller just to split screen.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, yeah,

[Blessing]

yeah, we'll see who's online.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, it's really easy to do.

[Blessing]

I mean, do we do online or you want. Want to get another.

[Andy Cortez]

I want to see you play against other people. Like I want to collectively root against somebody. You know what I Mean, I want us to talk about whoever's online if we're able to find a game.

[Blessing]

Yeah, hopefully we're able to find, I

[Andy Cortez]

think only early access. Right. Is what you said.

[Blessing]

Yeah, but I mean, it's. If it's the, you know, you play early access for the special edition or whatever, like, that's more so than the amount of people reviewing. And I was able to find a race, so it looks like we're.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, looking. I mean, something's happened, something's going on.

[Blessing]

Okay, so this is what I saw last night, where I saw that logo and I'm like, is that a developer? Because that's the company logo for Milestone.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, it's got to be.

[Blessing]

Yeah. We might be going one on one with the dev.

[Andy Cortez]

It's gotta be. You gotta dominate them.

[Blessing]

I gotta lock in.

[Andy Cortez]

Do the characters feel different to play y' all sing? Yeah, we mentioned a little bit earlier.

[Blessing]

Yeah, they do.

[Andy Cortez]

And Bless is playing on PlayStation.

[Blessing]

I will say the. When I played against the developer and another player last night. Oh,

[Andy Cortez]

Waffle on the run.

[Blessing]

Oh, from chat. All right. It's me, Waffle and four devs.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah, exactly. If you win, it's a dev. If you lose, random jabroni.

[Blessing]

All right, we're going with the dog.

[Andy Cortez]

I like it. And they. The dog talks. The dog barks, but they understand his language.

[Blessing]

I never thought about that. I don't think so. I think I'm only. I think only his owner understands him. Only Gage understands the dog.

[Andy Cortez]

Gotcha. This song blocks. I got to ask the questions, kid. Junior. I got to. I got to ask. Got to. You got to, you know, figure out what's going on with this dog? Dog. Because the rest of the game is people speaking in different languages and understanding each other. What if dog language is a dog language? You know?

[Blessing]

All right, If I go non verbal, it's cuz I'm locking in.

[Andy Cortez]

I freaking love the look of this car. It is so cool. I love the boxy sort of vibe to it.

[Blessing]

Look at that drift.

[Game Character D]

Chat.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow.

[Blessing]

Look at that drift.

[Andy Cortez]

Wow around, everybody. That's a good track.

[Blessing]

Come on, come on, come on, come on. Let's go.

[Andy Cortez]

Big boost.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, does it notify you when you're about to get.

[Blessing]

Yes. The.

[Andy Cortez]

These.

[Blessing]

These things on screen?

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Okay. The red.

[Blessing]

Okay. Yeah. So the dog. The dog's boost and strike stuff lasts way longer.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, I like using them. Dude. Waffle on the runs in first place. Bless.

[Blessing]

That's crazy.

[Andy Cortez]

They're killing it.

[Blessing]

Are you that good at the game already? The Game's not even out yet.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, nice. Oh. So close to getting the devil it. Oh.

[Game Character D]

Oh.

[Andy Cortez]

O says bless. Bless makes a sick turn and takes a bunch of spots. Also bless loses those spots in normal turns.

[Blessing]

You know what? That's fair.

[Andy Cortez]

We excel at the hard stuff and really up on the easiest things. Damn. A lot of explosions up ahead, I think Wal from the runs. Like the dude in the last race who was just gone forever.

[Blessing]

Yeah. Pull up.

[Andy Cortez]

They were at one point they were visible and then they just became invisible. Oh, see? Yeah, that would have been cool side.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, man. Saw that coming,

[Blessing]

man. I'm getting up now.

[Andy Cortez]

What up, demon? What up, Spa. Oh. Oh. Oh, man. Now they're coming after you.

[Blessing]

Now they're coming after.

[Andy Cortez]

Now they're coming after you. 14th place is not looking great.

[Blessing]

It's looking real bad.

[Andy Cortez]

Does it show you on the mini map if anybody's exploding? I wonder. I'm looking to see if like you see like a. Maybe it's the purple actually on this mini map. No, that purple's got to be someone boosting on the mini map.

[Blessing]

Nope.

[Andy Cortez]

Two more laps.

[Blessing]

All right, we gotta lock in.

[Andy Cortez]

Andy, where do racing games rank on your video game skill list? So low. That would be a cool thing for us to like our stats.

[Blessing]

Yeah.

[Andy Cortez]

If we were to do like the. That hexagonal map or even if it's like, you know, even it's like octagonal, like based on the genre. It's like I'm way up here for this, but I'm way low for this, you know? Yeah. I've never been good at racing games, but I always. I always enjoyed them as a kid and then I kind of just like fell off of the genre. But a cool story like this or galaxy freaking. What's it called? Star Wars 1.

[Blessing]

Star Wars. Galaxies.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Galactic.

[Blessing]

Galactic Racer. Yeah, I was gonna say galaxy.

[Andy Cortez]

If there's a cool ass story there as well, like that'll that very similar to fighting games. I need a really sick ass story to get in. Now. That being said, I have skipped a lot of more recent fighting games with awesome stories just because of time. Tekken, Mortal Kombat. I gotta play with this. I'd say I'm probably the best at first person shooters in terms of my own personal skill. Or just like shooters in general.

[Blessing]

You don't think souls games.

[Andy Cortez]

No, I have persistence with souls games. I mean, I do first try a decent amount of stuff, but like, I also am super at some bosses, so it's a mixed bag.

[Blessing]

We can start this trend like this. This feels like a social media show. Like the 10 games to get to know.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Here's my octagonal skill.

[Blessing]

He's gotta, like, make the path template.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah.

[Blessing]

Oh. The thing I suck at, though, is that I never use the shield. Like I see. Oh. Like I see somebody coming. And I just never use the shield because I'm always using the boost because the boost and the shield use the same meter.

[Andy Cortez]

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like slay this fire. Do I want to use an attack card or a shield card?

[Blessing]

Yeah, exactly.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, nice. Oh, we're so locked. Do not get last place. Blessed. Do not get last place.

[Blessing]

Oh, I will. I cannot get last place. I just want to finish the race, honestly.

[Andy Cortez]

Oh, no.

[Blessing]

At least not last place. At least it's not last place, because I think it was, what, 16 players

[Andy Cortez]

in that not last place. Well, bless. That's gonna do it for us. On this episode of gamescast Plays. This has been Screamer, a game that Blessing said a nine out of nine out of 10.

[Blessing]

I love. I love this video game.

[Andy Cortez]

And he said it was like, you know, racing about 8 out of 10, but that the story just really, really hooked you and grabbed you with awesome, super likable characters and one that I'm really stoked to try out. I was actually supposed to be the one playing, but we ran out of time when it comes to, like, what we were setting up in here. But I was slacking, Greg, during the gamescast asking for a code. I was like, oh, no, wait, there is one for me. I've had one this whole time. I didn't realize it. Chat. Thank you so much for watching. Appreciate you all hanging out with us on this episode of gamescast Plays. Make sure you click, like, subscribe. Leave a comment for the algorithm. Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and we'll see you all in the next episode.

[Blessing]

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[Sponsor Voice]

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[Blessing]

Let's talk about it. I don't have time to shop, so I buy all my clothes where I buy my seafood.

[Andy Cortez]

I just want someone to tell me

[Blessing]

what shirt goes with what pants. I just want jeans. That fit.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Andy Cortez]

Man, that was easy. That looked good.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Blessing]

there's a world where legends race across city skylines.

[Game Character E]

Romance blossoms in glittering ballrooms, and there's

[Blessing]

magic around every corner. It's a world known to many as Great Britain. You've seen the action on screen. Now visit the real star of the show. Visit Great Britain. To discover more, go to tripadvisor.com Great Britain.