Slipstream

This is a *really* fun game. The mechanics are quite good, the level design is very unique, and the gameplay is extremely engaging. The bouncy physics combined with the chaos of characters colliding makes for a very enjoyable experience. Definitely worth the money. Controller support is good, it seems to use Steam input so my DS4 controller worked out of the box. I much prefer controller as the input scheme here. Using a mouse is fine, though. It of coruse lacks the rumble features, but at least on my PC the mouse isn't fully captured by the window so you might be able to click on a second screen if you're not paying attention. Over my couple of hours in the game so far, I have mostly stuck to time trials. I did start with the grand prix mode, and I think it's lacking a bit of depth (looking at Mario Kart as a comparison point). I finished grand prix quite quickly, and without another tangible goal there, I moved to time trials for the rest of my playtime. Having a more in-depth "campaign" in the grand prix mode would be very beneficial IMO, since that's where Slipstream shines the most (when there are other characters present to interact with -- either real or CPU players). I haven't yet tried the multiplayer, but I'm sure with a couple of friends it'll be great. The music and sound effects are awesome. The sound effects in particular remind me a lot of the videos on "xkcd's What If?" YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif), as they seemingly are just sounds recorded by a person at a microphone. They add a lot of character to the game, great choice there. However, I would love the music to be more consistent across stages. Maybe there is something I am missing, but during certain stages and parts of certain stages, there's either no music or it's extremely quiet. That, or the music seems to start/restart (the sink level, for example). These tracks are great, definitely let them shine more often! I'd also love to see support for couch co-op mode, as I think that would be excellent for this type of game. I'm not sure how you'd accomplish this, whether this is a split-screen experience, or some sort of shared/dynamic camera dealio. Of course, this would have to be implemented using multiple controllers, as multiple KB/M players on the same PC would not work. I wasn't too keen on the embedded video for tutorialization. It was a bit awkward, especially since I can't pause or do anything other than dismiss it and restart the video. I would much prefer an interactive tutorial come up instead (of the button, and when you wait idle at the main screen). Or perhaps the game should dump you into the tutorial right from the get go on first launch, being accessible after using a button. That might be the best approach for ensuring new players get an idea of the mechanics early on, without overwhelming them with what menu option to pick first. I had some very minor issues with the UI when I was using my controller, but I'm not 100% sure what caused it. It usually manifested as a manu focus issue, where I would try to open up the pause menu to exit *after* a race had finished, and my movements would instead be focused on the screen behind me (results/next/previous). I had to exit the menu, move my selection to and from some buttons on the previous menu, *then* open up the pause menu again. Though, these issues are pretty minor and easy enough to get around at least for me, so it didn't take away from the experience. For other people, it might be more signficiant. Overall, this is a great game. Definitely buy it!