It's easy to dismiss the retro vibe behind many pop culture phenomena—including Blade Runner 2049, Stranger Things, and the entire synthwave moment—as nothing more than shallow appeals to nostalgia.
A handful of media properties have managed to dig deeper, however, creating more rewarding experiences.
Horizon Chase Turbo, a racing game for PC and PlayStation 4, falls into that category.
This title harkens back to the simple, but thrilling, racing action found in late 1980s and 1990s tiles like Rad Racer and Top Gear.
Aspiring J.
J.
McClures who were weaned on Forza, Gran Turismo, and other contemporary racing games may find Horizon Chase Turbo a tad shallow, but those who dig arcade-style racers will find little fault in this PC game's simplicity.
Opening the Garage Door
Horizon Chase Turbo is the first PC entry in what has until recently been a smartphone and tablet racing series.
Your goal, as in other racing titles, is to finish first in automotive sprints.
This isn't a Forza Horizon-style open world; instead, you race through 109 straightforward tracks scattered across several nations, including Chile, China, Japan, South Africa, and United States.
Each country has multiple cities in which you can spin your hot wheels.
California racing locales, for example, include the Los Angeles and San Francisco regions, each containing unique sights.
In total, there are 48 cities to race through and 12 cups to claim.
A successful racing title, at least in my eyes, is built on four pillars: a satisfying sense of speed, tight controls, excellent cruising music, and beautiful locations.
Horizon Chase Turbo checks off each of those boxes.
It's a gorgeous game, though, admittedly, one that may not be instantly recognized as such due to the unique art style that recalls Google's Material Design.
The graphics dance between pastel colors and cool, neon highlights depending on if you're driving at daytime or nighttime, respectively.
Plus, Horizon Chase Turbo adopts a stylized, flat polygon look that gives it retro flavor without jaggies, clipping, and other 1990s-era polygonal visual flaws.
Thankfully, the cars in your garage are all unlicensed.
That may sound like a no-no in an era of Forza or Gran Turismo, but licensed cars risk being yanked from digital storefronts when the licenses expire.
It's a huge games preservation issue.
The game's cartoony, brandless cars look extremely cool as you race through the gorgeous backdrops.
Hitting the Road
The roads you ride penetrate stylized towns, cities, and country sides.
If you're cutting through San Francisco, you can expect to see hills and the Bay Bridge in the distance, but don't expect to drive down Market Street or blaze past Moscone Center.
Though Horizon Chase Turbo is a PC game, its DNA lies in mobile gaming.
As a result, you should expect a simpler racing experience.
Simpler, however, doesn't mean bad.
If you fire up pick-up-and-play games like Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge or Top Gear on a regular basis, Horizon Chase Turbo belongs in your library.
You don't need to obsess over gear, chassis, and tires.
That said, you can unlock 12 body kit upgrades and more than 30 cars.
I would love if Horizon Chase Turbo supported custom soundtracks, as Forza Horizon 3 does, but it's not a huge lack.
That's because Barry Leitch (the composer behind Lotus Turbo Challenge, Rush, and Top Gear) handles Horizon Chase Turbo's soundtrack, a collection of compositions that provide the synthy audio backdrop.
As you whip around tracks, you'll see fuel canisters and blue tokens strewn across the playfield. You should pick them up (by driving over them), as tokens increase your score and fuel adds to your gas supply.
Both are important pickups, but you won't finish a race without grabbing fuel.
That's right, your car can run out of gas. That's something that belongs in a sim racer, not an arcade racer.
I don't particularly dig this Horizon Chase Turbo aspect.
You'll also find nitro icons on the tracks, which let you hit turbo to either break away from (or catch up to) the pack.
Fortunately, using turbo doesn't affect the gas-depletion rate.
In fact, if you burn all your fuel but still have turbo available, you can use the boost to get moving again and possibly pick up gas cans (or finish the race if you're within striking distance of the line).
Besides the single-player campaign, Horizon Chase Turbo has a four-player local multiplayer mode.
The game supports gamepads and keyboards, too, but in a cool twist two people can use the keyboard at once (one on WASD and one on the arrows).
Sadly, Horizon Chase Turbo lacks online multiplayer races, but you can challenge your friends in online Ghost Mode (in which phantom cars from your previous races compete).
Looking Under the Hood
Horizon Chase Turbo isn't a demanding title.
Developer Aquiris Game Studio states on the game's Steam page that your gaming PC needs to contain a least a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 500MB of storage, and the Windows 7 operating system.
Horizon Chase Turbo also supports Linux, MacOS, and SteamOS.
The pixel resolution can be adjusted between 640 by 480 and 4K, and you can activate many graphics features, including 8X Anti-Aliasing and Vsync.
I played at 1080p resolution, with the visual settings bumped up, and saw the game run at a silky 60 frames per second.
Please note that when Horizon Chase Turbo launched, it had a major issue that caused some gamers to be unable to advance beyond the start screen.
I was one of them.
To remedy the problem, I had to delete my save file so that the repair patch could be applied.
The problem appears to be rectified, as I haven't encountered that issue since then.
Pulling Into the Driveway
With Horizon Chase Turbo, Aquiris Game Studio created a contemporary racing game that wonderfully calls back to the genre's classic titles.
The game's fast, boasts a catchy soundtrack, and has numerous cars to speed through international environments.
The gas gimmick and lack of online multiplayer dull the experience a bit, but overall Horizon Chase Turbo is a fine addition to your video game library.
Horizon Chase Turbo (for PC)
Pros
Charming retro audio/visual aesthetics.
Bountiful cars and tracks.
Non-licensed cars ensure the game will be around for some time.
The Bottom Line
A retro racing throwback, Horizon Chase Turbo replicates the speed and fun of classic 1990s-style racers.
It's easy to dismiss the retro vibe behind many pop culture phenomena—including Blade Runner 2049, Stranger Things, and the entire synthwave moment—as nothing more than shallow appeals to nostalgia.
A handful of media properties have managed to dig deeper, however, creating more rewarding experiences.
Horizon Chase Turbo, a racing game for PC and PlayStation 4, falls into that category.
This title harkens back to the simple, but thrilling, racing action found in late 1980s and 1990s tiles like Rad Racer and Top Gear.
Aspiring J.
J.
McClures who were weaned on Forza, Gran Turismo, and other contemporary racing games may find Horizon Chase Turbo a tad shallow, but those who dig arcade-style racers will find little fault in this PC game's simplicity.
Opening the Garage Door
Horizon Chase Turbo is the first PC entry in what has until recently been a smartphone and tablet racing series.
Your goal, as in other racing titles, is to finish first in automotive sprints.
This isn't a Forza Horizon-style open world; instead, you race through 109 straightforward tracks scattered across several nations, including Chile, China, Japan, South Africa, and United States.
Each country has multiple cities in which you can spin your hot wheels.
California racing locales, for example, include the Los Angeles and San Francisco regions, each containing unique sights.
In total, there are 48 cities to race through and 12 cups to claim.
A successful racing title, at least in my eyes, is built on four pillars: a satisfying sense of speed, tight controls, excellent cruising music, and beautiful locations.
Horizon Chase Turbo checks off each of those boxes.
It's a gorgeous game, though, admittedly, one that may not be instantly recognized as such due to the unique art style that recalls Google's Material Design.
The graphics dance between pastel colors and cool, neon highlights depending on if you're driving at daytime or nighttime, respectively.
Plus, Horizon Chase Turbo adopts a stylized, flat polygon look that gives it retro flavor without jaggies, clipping, and other 1990s-era polygonal visual flaws.
Thankfully, the cars in your garage are all unlicensed.
That may sound like a no-no in an era of Forza or Gran Turismo, but licensed cars risk being yanked from digital storefronts when the licenses expire.
It's a huge games preservation issue.
The game's cartoony, brandless cars look extremely cool as you race through the gorgeous backdrops.
Hitting the Road
The roads you ride penetrate stylized towns, cities, and country sides.
If you're cutting through San Francisco, you can expect to see hills and the Bay Bridge in the distance, but don't expect to drive down Market Street or blaze past Moscone Center.
Though Horizon Chase Turbo is a PC game, its DNA lies in mobile gaming.
As a result, you should expect a simpler racing experience.
Simpler, however, doesn't mean bad.
If you fire up pick-up-and-play games like Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge or Top Gear on a regular basis, Horizon Chase Turbo belongs in your library.
You don't need to obsess over gear, chassis, and tires.
That said, you can unlock 12 body kit upgrades and more than 30 cars.
I would love if Horizon Chase Turbo supported custom soundtracks, as Forza Horizon 3 does, but it's not a huge lack.
That's because Barry Leitch (the composer behind Lotus Turbo Challenge, Rush, and Top Gear) handles Horizon Chase Turbo's soundtrack, a collection of compositions that provide the synthy audio backdrop.
As you whip around tracks, you'll see fuel canisters and blue tokens strewn across the playfield. You should pick them up (by driving over them), as tokens increase your score and fuel adds to your gas supply.
Both are important pickups, but you won't finish a race without grabbing fuel.
That's right, your car can run out of gas. That's something that belongs in a sim racer, not an arcade racer.
I don't particularly dig this Horizon Chase Turbo aspect.
You'll also find nitro icons on the tracks, which let you hit turbo to either break away from (or catch up to) the pack.
Fortunately, using turbo doesn't affect the gas-depletion rate.
In fact, if you burn all your fuel but still have turbo available, you can use the boost to get moving again and possibly pick up gas cans (or finish the race if you're within striking distance of the line).
Besides the single-player campaign, Horizon Chase Turbo has a four-player local multiplayer mode.
The game supports gamepads and keyboards, too, but in a cool twist two people can use the keyboard at once (one on WASD and one on the arrows).
Sadly, Horizon Chase Turbo lacks online multiplayer races, but you can challenge your friends in online Ghost Mode (in which phantom cars from your previous races compete).
Looking Under the Hood
Horizon Chase Turbo isn't a demanding title.
Developer Aquiris Game Studio states on the game's Steam page that your gaming PC needs to contain a least a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 500MB of storage, and the Windows 7 operating system.
Horizon Chase Turbo also supports Linux, MacOS, and SteamOS.
The pixel resolution can be adjusted between 640 by 480 and 4K, and you can activate many graphics features, including 8X Anti-Aliasing and Vsync.
I played at 1080p resolution, with the visual settings bumped up, and saw the game run at a silky 60 frames per second.
Please note that when Horizon Chase Turbo launched, it had a major issue that caused some gamers to be unable to advance beyond the start screen.
I was one of them.
To remedy the problem, I had to delete my save file so that the repair patch could be applied.
The problem appears to be rectified, as I haven't encountered that issue since then.
Pulling Into the Driveway
With Horizon Chase Turbo, Aquiris Game Studio created a contemporary racing game that wonderfully calls back to the genre's classic titles.
The game's fast, boasts a catchy soundtrack, and has numerous cars to speed through international environments.
The gas gimmick and lack of online multiplayer dull the experience a bit, but overall Horizon Chase Turbo is a fine addition to your video game library.
Horizon Chase Turbo (for PC)
Pros
Charming retro audio/visual aesthetics.
Bountiful cars and tracks.
Non-licensed cars ensure the game will be around for some time.
The Bottom Line
A retro racing throwback, Horizon Chase Turbo replicates the speed and fun of classic 1990s-style racers.
