I’ll be honest, I’m a huge fan of racing games but have never actually tried my hand at one based on drag racing. With the release of Team6 Game Studios and GameMill Entertainment’s Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All, I knew it was one I had to give a try. Upon having played it though, I left it feeling severely underwhelmed. Because of its tacky premise, lack of polish, and basic gameplay, this is a title that does more harm to the name of drag racing than good.

Gameplay

I have to say when I first tried the game out I was pretty interested in its unique way of how races are actually done. You start by burning out your tires in order to heat them up so that you get the optimum traction needed to outrace your competition. This is done by holding the two trigger buttons and slowly releasing the left one so that you peel out. The goal is to reach a certain heat level that isn’t too low to avoid slipping and isn’t too hot to avoid sticking.

From there, you’ll drive up to the starting line by holding the right trigger, and then once in position, you’ll inch up as close as you can to the line without going over. After that, you just watch the amber lights and peel out as soon as you see the green light go. Races are only a few seconds long but keep some pressure on you by adding a shift up or down mechanic that you’ll have to watch out for as well as a nitrous boost available. Winning against an opponent is carried out in the best of three or best of five methods.

Now, while these are unique and pretty specific steps that you’ll take in order to start a race, they become an absolute chore by the third or fourth time you do them. The game is such a monotonous mess that you’ll not only repeat doing the same game mechanics over and over, you’ll also have to retread the same races over and over in order to progress through the game itself.

The game’s only actual focus is on its campaign and that’s another reason why it fails. The majority of the time you’ll take part in trial races where you and your competitor race to the finish line along a straight road. You’ll also be able to take part in some other challenges around the map but not only are these pretty rare to come by, but they’re also pretty generic and feel completely different than the majority of the game.

You’ll complete these challenges across the USA in order to compete in No Prep King events. Unlocking these events, as well as additional stops throughout, are done by increasing your rep as well as your car’s ranking. Increasing your car’s ranking is done by upgrading its parts or by equipping some with better stats. You can also add mods to each of these parts to enhance a whole matter of things like takeoff, acceleration, and top speed.

I think that the customization of the car’s parts is pretty simple to learn but again just falls flat, especially when you consider how hard they marketed the mechanic aspects of this game. Parts, mods, and vehicles can be purchased around the map using the cash you win but it’s just pretty passable. Getting to the actual No Prep King events, the devs really didn’t do anything to differentiate them from regular trials. All you do is race one person at a time until you've successfully beaten five, including the top contender. Sure, you can call out specific rivals who may or may not wind up racing you, but what’s the point? I think that the devs leaned into the actual Street Outlaws television show premise a bit too much for this one.

Car customization is also pretty lacking as aside from paints and a couple of wraps, there’s not much else. It’s just the most basic form of any cosmetic customization system I’ve seen in years. Another idea that seemed to fall flat was the idea of creating a team. Adding each team member which you acquire upon your travels, doesn’t really do anything too impressive. They can fix your car faster or give you a slight discount at shops, yippee.

Audio and Visuals

It’s kind of incredible that this game can look both impressive and hilarious at the same time. The cars are pretty well done as well as some of the tracks. Characters and their animations are a joke though as well as the areas surrounding the actual roads. Everything is muddy and pretty lifeless.

Audio is one of those “it’s so bad it’s good” types of things. Taking the actual people from the reality show it’s based on, this title has some of the most cringe-inducing acting moments in gaming of the last decade. It’s not inherently bad but it does make the game feel low-budget. Music is a generic hardcore southern rock vibe that isn’t as satisfying as “Free Bird” or “Sweet Home Alabama”, and falls more in the vein of a local bar band.

What It Could Have Done Better

Street Outlaws 2 suffers from some weird bugs like cars getting stuck in random spots or the brakes not working when trying to burnout. I would have liked to think that the game’s core mechanics would work properly post-launch.

I also think that the devs leaned too hard into certain gameplay aspects and not enough into others. Having those side challenges helped to break up the gameplay cycle but they never committed to them. Also, if you’re going to want me to grind and do the same kind of races over and over, at least create more of them so that I don’t have to reenact the exact same races.

Another hilarious aspect about this title is its misrepresentations of the locations it uses. Being someone who’s pretty familiar with the United States and its geography, I found it pretty ridiculous how little research these devs even put into their work. Both a Nashville TN challenge and an Orlando FL challenge utilize a Miami FL beach location. Now, I can slightly forgive the Orlando one as that may just be how people view the state as a whole but placing a major beach location in landlocked Tennesee?

Verdict

I gotta say, I was pretty let down by Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All. I wanted to learn more about this style of racing and yet came out of it feeling sorry for actual fans that this is the most recent representation of it in gaming. The racing is boring, the world is as hollow as a barrel, and it lacks any worth at all. This isn’t a title that you should touch unless you’re a die-hard fan of the television show. That’s the only value you may pull from it.