Arcade racing games are one of my loves, and have been since the days of Top Gear on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I still remember getting in trouble for staying up until 3:30 in the morning with that game when I was maybe 8 years old. However, although I grew up during that era, and played a ton of games throughout it, I do not remember hearing about an arcade racer named Screamer. Well, not until I started hearing about the reboot from Milestone.
As a big fan of the genre, I was excited about a new, unique, entry. It was on my radar from the start, and always looked interesting. Although I was disappointed to hear that its story was anime focused — being that I’ve never been a fan of it — I assumed that I’d still like its gameplay, and could deal with the anime. Hell, maybe I’d even enjoy it. I always try to go into things with an open mind.
Unfortunately, that didn’t end up being the case. I’m disappointed and sad to say that Screamer (2026) is not for me — at least not in its current state. I’ve seen other reviews, and read some different opinions online, and it feels like I’m playing a different game than a lot of those others who love and enjoy it. We all have different tastes though, and I respect that. I wish I could give it a glowing review too, but I need to be honest.
Screamer is a neon-hued arcade racer, which features a very dialogue heavy story. The idea behind things is that a mysterious figure is holding a racing tournament, and several different teams have entered, each of which have their own motivations. One group of soldiers is looking for revenge for the death of their friend and former colleague, while another is looking for reasons for the death of a friend. There are pop stars, soldiers, an evil organization and more, and you get to play as them all in what is honestly a very convoluted and kind of hard to follow story.
Before most races and challenge events, you’ll listen to and read varying amounts of voiced dialogue, which is spoken in various languages befitting the tournament’s international roster. At times, you’ll also watch an anime story scene. Sometimes both will play out before the next event. It takes a good amount of time to get through, and extends what is already apparently a 12-15 hour story mode.
Although I tried, I never did identify with or get into Screamer’s story. It was a lot, and never clicked with me. Then again, things like this usually don’t appeal to me. They’re just not my thing, and it’s not a medium I’ve ever enjoyed or been able to get into.
The tournament mode (which seems to be made up of three lengthy acts) begins with short races and tutorials, but more of the latter are spread out through the first two acts. You’ll learn the ropes, discover how to time your gear shifts in order to earn boost, learn how to drift and get used to using the game’s boost system, which rewards pressing the button at the right time to do perfect boosts. A lot of this is handled through the left shoulder button, but what sets Screamer apart from its peers is how it controls. You see, you can steer the various sports cars with the left stick, but need to use the right stick to drift. Yes, you read that right.
There are people who say that they only use the right stick to do any type of steering, and then there are others who say that they went with the one handed controls that are available in the options menu. There are a few other accessibility options, like an automatic throttle and help with driving.
Folks online say that you need to treat Screamer differently from other arcade racers, because of the unique control and gameplay systems listed above. I tend to agree with that because, despite my decades of enjoying arcade racers and being pretty good at them, this one was a different beast. It was difficult to get used to, and I always felt like I was fighting the game and its controls. Sure, it’s unique, but it’s overly challenging, frustrating and honestly unfair.
Not once did I feel comfortable driving these cars, or feel like I was doing well. I got through a good portion of the campaign, but was eking out victories. Thankfully, some races were ok with me finishing in third, but others had different objectives involving drifting a certain amount, doing a few perfect boosts, or running into and blowing up other cars. It’s ok, though, because they’re all equipped with Echo devices, which let them respawn.
As I progressed through the first act, and into the second, I learned about the attack meter and the short, offensive, speed boost it offers. I’d earn it through drifting and boosting normally, and then would use the right shoulder button to so a brief, damage-inducing, boost of another type. The idea was to aim at other cars, run into them and blow them up. It was much easier said than done, though, because the controls felt like they were working against me. I thought I had cars lined up, boosted and then just missed them by an inch. This led to failing events.
The honest truth is that I only got so far in Screamer’s tournament mode. I was unable to beat that event, because of the aforementioned issue and the fact that all of the computer controlled opponents kept getting way ahead of me. That’s another issue with this game: opponents quickly get way out in front, and seem impossible to catch. There’s also frustrating rubber banding and catch-up AI. This is the type of game where you’ll feel like you’re doing ok, be about to win and then see opponents fly past you just before the finish line. It’s frustrating.
The game’s team events can also lead to frustration, because one must rely on computer controlled racers. That’s because you earn points for your team based on where you finish. If the computer does poorly, it can affect your success and ability to move on.
If you’re wondering about difficulty options, know that there are two different ones. It’s possible to adjust the tournament’s difficulty (story, challenge, etc.), and it’s also possible to adjust the opponent drivers’ skill level. I started on the normal difficulty settings, but then ended up dropping things to story and very easy. You’d think that the tourney would be beatable and accessible on those settings, but it’s not. I even heard that there’s already been one patch to adjust the challenge level.
This game is unfortunately too difficult, unfair, and uneven in terms of its challenge level. You can do well in one race and then struggle mightily in the next. It’s frustrating, and it’s just not fun. I wasn’t enjoying myself much before I got to the wall that caused me to stop, but after trying that race a number of times I stopped playing.
Outside of its tournament, Screamer features an arcade mode with varying types of races, including the traditional ones and the checkpoint races that are found in the main story mode. It also features an online mode, but it’s very difficult too.
When I first hopped online, I got into a race with a couple of other humans and some bots. For some reason, though, my car wouldn’t accelerate. It would boost a little, then stop and blow up, but it could reverse. I got frustrated and quit out. Then, the second race worked ok, but I got my ass handed to me by bots.
There’s also a garage you can go into, because you’ll unlock different car parts and customization options, as well as different characters to play as. The mechanic, and his intelligent corgi, are important characters in the tournament, and feature in lots of dialogue scenes.
We’ve already covered how this reboot is anime focused, so you know to expect that. It’s got a lot of stereotypical anime characters, and a convoluted story. This art style carries through the tournament story, and its cutscenes. However, when you actually get into a race, things look more Cel-shaded than anything. It’s a very colourful experience, but isn’t the most detailed.
The tracks are said to feature shortcuts, but I didn’t find any. I hit the guardrails a lot, due to the controls, but never broke through into a shortcut. The tracks, themselves, feature different environments like futuristic areas, a neon hued city and a quarry of sorts.
The gameplay is also very fast, but it’s possible to lower the speed as much as you want (only for offline play though). I tried dropping it from 100 to 70, and it felt much slower and was less fun at that speed. It didn’t help me compete in this super challenging campaign.
As far as the audio goes: it’s pretty much what you’d expect. The characters are fully voiced, and some are annoying. The voice acting is hit and miss, but it does the job. The music is also fitting, and ok, but I got bored and ended up just listening to my metal/hard rock playlist.
I wish it weren’t the case, but I didn’t enjoy Screamer like I’d hoped to. It’s disappointing, because I was looking forward to enjoying a new arcade racer, and hoped to have a blast playing through it. Maybe I will be able to finish it one day, provided the developers patch the game so that its lower difficulty levels actually play out like they’re supposed to.
This could have been a really fun game, but it’s just too challenging, frustrating and generally unfair. With patches and fixes, it could become that, but I didn’t find it enjoyable as is.
This review is based on the Xbox Series X version of the game, which we were provided.