I read the premise for the small indie title Bootlegger’s Racing Story, and thought there was some semblance of potential. Apparently, it was supposed to be set in the Prohibition era. After amassing an insurmountable amount of debt, and with the clock ticking on the day you’re supposed to pay it off, or else you’d be evicted, you decide to become a getaway driver / delivery man for a bootlegger scheme in a local mob. It could have been alright, don’t you think? Well, news flash, it is a disaster of a game.

Our protagonist loves to tune into the radio show of whoever was 1932’s equivalent to Joe Rogan.

Bootlegger’s Racing Story is easy to review because there is almost nothing in it that works properly. The premise was decent, but its storytelling and cutscenes are monstrously janky. The main character, despite being a resident of the 1930’s, wears jeans, flannels, and a trucker hat. I have the feeling he was just part of an asset package, being shoved into the game with little to no art direction to speak of. All of the environments and additional objects also ooze that characteristic “asset store” vibe, making Bootlegger’s Racing Story feel almost unintentionally hilarious as a result. Especially whenever a character shows up during a cutscene, with facial and joint animations that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Postal game from 20 years ago.

I don’t want to accuse anyone, but this does look like it was made via an AI art generator. Look at the billboards…

Gameplay-wise, this is no racing game, despite what the title would suggest. Just go from point A to point B before the timer runs out, avoiding poorly-coded cops in the process. Reach the goal, and hope for the game not to crash or freeze (though that could also be considered a blessing in disguise, as you’ll have the chance to play something else). The simple fact you accelerate with the analog stick and not an actual button already makes this game way more frustrating to play than it should. Yep, like a Halo Warthog. For a so-called “racing” game. Physics be damned.

The only borderline positive (or better yet, not negative) aspect I can mention is the fact that Bootlegger’s Racing Story‘s sound department… doesn’t suck. It’s not exactly good, but the people who voiced the game’s characters put in some effort, despite the clear signs of amateurism. The music is also… fine, I suppose, though a lot of it just doesn’t sound at all like something from the 1930’s. For a game like this, you expect jazz, not country or blues.

Apparently there were people in the 30s who already liked to dress themselves as hillbillies from the 90s.

I want to believe the developers had a good idea for a game, but had virtually no budget to develop it. From the asset store vibes to the lack of polish, and even the possible usage of AI image generators in some loading screens (not only does the art not fit with the assets, but all storefronts are written with broken letter, typical of AI art), everything screams “borderline negative budget”. Yet, it was picked up by a publisher, and it is being sold for actual cash. For as much as I want to believe there were good intentions behind Bootlegger’s Racing Story, nothing about it works. It’s not fun, it crashes constantly, and it’s devoid of any kind of excitement. If you want to drive like crazy as a bootlegger, just play Mafia instead.

Bootlegger’s Racing Story is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Bootlegger’s Racing Story was provided by the publisher.