Review: Chrome Harbour 86, a Game That Knows It's Late

I want to say up front that Chrome Harbour 86 is a game that knows it came late to the party. It arrives with a sunset on its bonnet and a drum machine in its boot, and it knows exactly which decade it is pretending to be. This is a review of an invented game from an invented studio, Pale Static Games, because the thing I wanted to practise on was the writing.

The look

It looks great. That is the cheap thing to say about a neon racer, so let me be specific. The road is a ribbon of violet under a wide pink sun, and the cars throw cyan light onto the tarmac in a way that makes the whole screen feel wet. The draw distance is long. There's a coastline off to the left that never quite arrives.

It also commits. A lot of retro games borrow the colours and forget the discipline, and this one keeps the palette to five hues for the whole campaign.

The sound

The score, by a composer credited only as Vesper Gale, is the best reason to play. It's a synth-heavy loop that builds across each lap and drops into a bass line you can feel through a desk. I paused the game on the second night just to listen to a menu screen. I'm not proud of that, and I'd do it again.

The handling

Less good. The cars drift as if on ice, and the game's answer to this is a button that locks your steering for half a second. It works, once you've learned it, but it turns a clever idea into a chore. The first three tracks teach you the language and the fourth demands you speak it.

Here's a short list of what clicked and what didn't:

• Clicked: boost pads, the night-rain track, the radio announcer who seems sincere

• Didn't: the traffic that appears from nowhere, a time limit on the final stage, a loading screen that lasts too long

The third act

The campaign runs out of road. The last three stages recycle tracks with the lights turned down, and the boss race, a head-to-head against a car that never makes a mistake, is a test of patience more than skill. I beat it on my ninth attempt and felt relief rather than joy.

Verdict

I'd recommend it for the first four hours, and again after a year, when you've forgotten the final stage. Here is the scorecard:

• Look: 9 out of 10

• Sound: 10 out of 10

• Feel: 6 out of 10

• Shape: 5 out of 10

• Heart: 8 out of 10

• Overall: 7.5 out of 10

That is a good game with a great soundtrack. Put the headphones on, take the first four tracks, and leave at the sunset.

Names, places and events in this demo are fictional.