The first Redout was released a few years ago, and despite its promising premise, being inspired by antigrav racers like F-Zero and (most noticeably) Star Wars Episode I: Racer, it felt underwhelming. Between its visuals, bland performance, and lackluster amount of content, it felt inferior to other similar racers released at the same time, such as Fast RMX. Naturally, I thought the next game in the franchise would be another racing title, but we were surprised with Redout: Space Assault, a Star Fox clone, and a mediocre one at that. Maybe that was what led developer 34BigThings to revert back to the series’ racing roots and release a Redout 2? We’ll never know.

Redout 2 is better than the first Redout, that’s for certain, although the bar wasn’t set that high to be honest. It ditches the Star Wars inspirations for something a bit more akin to Wipeout, with similar level designs, level structure, and controls. With that being said, combat isn’t present, making this a much more straightforward racing game than its antigrav peers. While this sounds great in terms of making this game more appealing to a wider audience, removing some of the most “traditional” elements of this subgenre resulted in making Redout 2 look a bit bland, especially when comparing it to another somewhat recent outing in the genre, Pacer.

The game has everything you would expect from an antigrav racer: crazy track designs, fast-paced races, responsive controls, a blistering framerate, and electronic beats pounding your eardrums at all times. On the other hand, it also feels like the bare minimum was added to make Redout 2 feel just decent, not groundbreaking. Any attempts to make the game stand out, such as an unnecessary amount of lore before each race, fall flat. Its career mode is decent, but not very exciting. Its selection of modes also felt serviceable at best. Again, much better than its predecessor, but far from what I’d like from a racing game in this particular niche.

I have to point out that despite liking the game’s art style, I also had some bizarre issues with its HDR settings. For reasons beyond my comprehension, Redout 2 looked dim, almost devoid of light and colors, the complete opposite of what a freaking HDR mode should offer. That’s a shame, as visually speaking, Redout 2 is actually quite good. It would have been the best aspect about the game as a whole, with nice designs and a phenomenal framerate on its PS5 version, but the glaring HDR glitch resulted in its visuals being its actual weakest link.

It’s hard to talk a lot about Redout 2. It’s much better than its 2017 predecessor in almost every single aspect, but it’s just serviceable. Decent at best. It’s a good antigrav racing game, but I can’t point out a single thing about it that makes it stand out against other titles like Fast RMX, Pacer, or even the Wipeout remasters for PS4. You need to be a massive antigrav racing fan starving for a brand new Wipeout clone in this case. With that said, I’d say 34BigThings is on the right path. Maybe third time’s the charm? Let’s wait and see in a few years.

 

Graphics: 6.5 The art style is sharp, the framerate is excellent, but the game features some glaring HDR issues.	Gameplay: 7.5 It’s more Wipeout than F-Zero. Even though the controls are responsive, it does very little new with the antigrav racing formula. It gets repetitive after a while.
Sound: 7.0 Electronic beats that fit with the genre, but far from being memorable. There’s also a bit of voice acting, namely before each race. It’s functional.	Fun Factor: 7.0 It is much better than its predecessor, but even for a high-octane racing title like this one, it still lacks a bit of intensity. Maybe the third time will end up being a charm?
Final Verdict: 7.0

Redout 2 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Redout 2 was provided by the publisher.