With Sony sitting on their futuristic racing gloves, a number of other studios have been trying to grab a hold of the anti-grav Wipeout-like racing genre. One of those games was Formula Fusion from R8 Games, which went from Kickstarter through to release on Steam in 2017. Two years on it’s heading to console, but is seeing a ground up overhaul and expansion, to the extent that it’s being completely rebranded.
Formula Fusion is now Pacer and will be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2019.
It’s going to build on the foundations that Formula Fusion, from the style of racing to the soundtrack from CoLD SToRAGE, but will come with new features, game modes and more. The physics and handling have been rewritten, the single player campaign and vehicle progression overhauled, there’s six new tracks, and a new Storm Mode, which they describe as the first Battle Royale arcade racer. The game will be targeting 60fps first and foremost, and with 4K support on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X (which will aim for native 4K).
Most importantly, speaking to the developers at Rezzed, they will be doing right by their existing backers from Kickstarter and customers on PC. Kickstarter backers and Steam purchasers will be receiving free upgrades from Formula Fusion to Pacer.
“This change in gear really does mark the next stage in Pacer’s progress,” offers Steve Iles, Senior Producer. “The game has changed significantly with a ground up re-coding of the core gameplay systems and inclusion of a wealth of new content. We’ve got some big plans for 2019 and we felt that we needed to reflect that with a name that more accurately captured the spirit of the game.”
He continued, “For gamers who have been on board ever since we first announced the original game in 2015, this evolution is representative of our ambition to deliver more of what they love. Pacer is the realisation of our original vision, but bigger and bolder.”
Source: press release
