Pacer Reviews
Fast, slick but with a few too many flaws, Pacer is nevertheless a fine futuristic racer.
Fans of either F-Zero or Wipeout will undeniably and thoroughly enjoy PACER. The methodology behind this title is the same that you would see in Wipeout as the project began with many of the same people involved in the original games.
Pacer is an adrenaline-fuelled racer with tons of replayability, and plenty of customisation options to make each win count.
Pacer is a magnificent anti-grav racer that's more than capable of filling the Wipeout-sized hole in your life.
Pacer can most definitely give you a rush of nostalgia if you grew up with games of this type. It just doesn’t feel like it has the legs to keep you occupied once that euphoria wears off. It’s hard to tell here at launch, but if a community forms around this game and the online actually has players to play with this could very well be a go to game to get a quick adrenaline fix.
Pacer is a good game on its own merits but it is nothing special, and when Wipeout HD Collection is still being sold for half the price of Pacer (and the other titles I mentioned at the beginning of this review are also less than Pacer) it is extremely hard to say this game that is just “good” is worth your money when competitors are out there for less. Pacer does not exist in a vacuum, and therefore I can not recommend it over other Wipeout inspired titles, which there is at least one on every current platform.
Pacer is a fun, difficult, and fast racing game that marries some sensible simplicities to an often overwhelming genre. That said, some little oversights can still hamper new players' experience.
It all ends up coming across as an ‘almost’ experience. Pacer is almost a successor to Wipeout, but poor track design, a lack of strong audio design, and lackluster weapons all add up to a ho-hum experience that leaves you wanting for the early Wipeout days. If you really need something to scratch that old itch, then give Pacer a whirl. If you’re looking for the next S-Class zero-g racer, you’ll likely want to dust off an older PlayStation.
The game doesn't get everything right. Menus and UI are a little clumsy, and you're unlikely to feel attached to any of the teams in the career mode. However, it has it where it counts — fun, speedy racing, lots to do, and a CoLD SToRAGE soundtrack. WipEout fans looking for a new entry: this is as close as you'll find.
Ships that literally defy gravity, speed, shooting and constant action are the condiments that make Pacer a worthy exponent of the futuristic driving genre.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Like all great racing games, Pacer is about repetition and mastery. The more you play, the better you'll become at speeding through all the sharp turns and wild loops. It's not as polished as the Wipeout games were, but it's still a pretty good deal if you don't care much about multiplayer.
Pacer offers lightning-fast anti-gravity races on great tracks, but suffers from a lack of spectators and a hardly rewarding career.
Review in German | Read full review
Solid in some ways, less-than-desired in others, Pacer is a fairly good futuristic racing game with some caveats.
So, Pacer is an accomplished anti-gravity racer, no doubt. But it falls short of being great due to its ho-hum campaign mode and the restrictive nature of some of its tracks. If you’re looking for a worthy Wipeout replacement on PC you’d be wise to give it a go; and while it pales in comparison to Wipeout Omega Collection on PS4, if you’ve played that title to death this will entertain you for decent amount of time. A Wipeout beater it is not, but it’s a fair contender.
Fans of Wipeout and F-Zero should rejoice as they have finally a modern installment to their beloved genre. Pacer delivers on what it promised - being a high quality anti-grav racing game, albeit not AAA-level, nor does it really need to be. There's no overtly dramatic story mode with motion captured actors, but this game doesn't really need it. Here's hoping the success of this game will reignite the anti-grav racing genre and bring back some of the abandoned franchises (I'm looking at you, F-Zero!).
Pacer successfully fills a gap in the market for high speed, anti-gravity racers. Those who are wishing for an experience reminiscent of the Wipeout series will be pleased on how this project has turned out. Tight and precise controls, matched up with a large assortment of maps and customised crafts makes for a very fulfilling experience. Issues such as those posed by hard-to-reach weapons can be overcome by practising and improving knowledge of each turn in every track - alas the lacklustre sound effects from the crafts is seemingly all that is available. These tiny issues aside Pacer makes good on its promise, even if it took a long time to get there.
R8 Games tried to create a new WipEout and they succeeded. Well, partially. The game is fast and catchy but it's not as good ad original.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Pacer is a delightful racer, filled with plenty of action-packed moments. It also has some of the more glorious drifting mechanics that are hard to find in most car-racing games. For those looking for the spiritual successor to the WipeOut series, look no further. While the vehicles are quite limited, and some of the tracks don't truly compliment the high-speed racing that this wants to be known for, when the right ingredients are in play, then the experience becomes quite memorable. If only the online community had more going for it, or at least if the offline modes had the option to increase the difficulty of the AI. Despite some of the setbacks, overall this is a very good racer that is worth jumping into and getting lost in.
Ironically, the futuristic theme and the year in which it debuted, 2020, makes PACER a beautiful journey to the past we aspired at the end of the 90s.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Ultimately, PACER is an experience that gradually gets more and more frustrating due to its lack of speed, unbalance and the decline in the quality of the tracks. The beginning was promising, but that, unfortunately, was not maintained until the last moments.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review