It was the last day of E3, with tired legs we made our way to the cool dark meeting room of My.com to experience some World of Speed action.
We were sat down in racing seats before given a quick talk from creative director Andy Tudor. Tudor explained that World of Cars is the only true team racer at this year’s E3, while Sony’s Drive Club and Ubisoft’s The Crew profess to be all about teamwork they are actually about individuals trying to win a race solo with points accumulated for the team at the end. World of Speed on the other hand is a true MMO racer with RPG mechanics, teams will have to formulate a strategy with members taking up roles to complete objectives in a given race. One member could have a speed setup to try and win the race while supporting members could use a beefy setup in an attempt to block rivals.
As a big MMORPG fan this is compelling stuff, we could not wait to see all of this in action, unfortunately after such a great intro we experienced our first disappointment, we were handed Logitech controllers instead of wheels, the second disappointment was to take part in what can only be described as a vanilla one v one race, we would not be able to experience any of the awesome teamwork described just moments before. Don’t get me wrong, you can play the game just fine with a controller but wheel support is there for enthusiasts.
Once in the game things were looking good, really good. World of Speed is being developed in tandem with Slightly Mad Studios’ other racer Project CARS so naturally the two games are sharing assets which can only be a good thing. We are seeing a lot of good looking racer’s at the start of this generation but the guys at Slightly Mad appear to have the best looking cars in the business right now. Gameplay-wise World of Speed plays like your standard arcade racer, think Burnout or Need for Speed, a casual racer with nitro boost, handbrake turns, and alternative routes.
After a single race which I won because you know, I’m a pro like that we entered a second race with a modified setup. Tudor was quick to explain that you don’t upgrade your car in World of Speed, you simply modify it for the task at hand, whether that be drift tyres to make completing a drift challenge easier or installing a wing to increase downforce for easier cornering at the expense of straightline speed.
With the second race over and another win under my belt, our hands-on time with World of Speed was over.
World of Speed will be a free-2-play game and we have been assured that it will not be pay-2-win, microtransactions will generally be cosmetic with XP boosts thrown in for those looking to maximise their efficiency when playing the game. Essentially you cannot go in and buy the best cars and modifications, you will have to race and earn points while the whole game is available without spending a penny.
