When you are kid and you are in childhood or adolescence everything acquires a special tone of significance. The lack of comparisons and memories makes each novelty impact in a clear way marking an indelible permanence in that lack of maturity brain we have, and it is perhaps part of the premise that makes this Super Woden GP touch us strong in that nostalgia that takes us back to simpler times, where we thought we were happy.
In 1993 a game developed by Zigurat (Madrid) for Gaelco (Barcelona) called World Rally was published in arcades, which turned out to be a national and international success. In it we accompanied Carlos Sainz’s Toyota Celica through four of the most iconic rallies of the time while enjoying a characteristic isometric view.
Spain was not a prolific country in software development, but the people who did it were generally very good, and this in particular was the best-selling national arcade in history being distributed in USA or Japan. Surely all of you are familiar with it.
Super Woden GP recreate or seems recreate from this kind of origins, because as World Rally, is of national origin and from a passionate of cars and competition as ViJuDa, its programmer and the person in charge of making this little dream come true as other developments commanded by a single person as Braid, FEZ, Stardew Valley or already in the world of motor and in the last year, art of rally and this same Super Woden GP.
Woden GP was released last summer (on Steam for 4.99 euros) and seems to be the basis on which sits this more ambitious project that takes the word Super to make us assume what we face.
In this title we have tests of all kinds, both in circuits and in point to point sections. From short tests to long tests, from slow and difficult to handle cars to those that are excessively fast and sensitive to steering.
The installation is simple, since in this version that we have had access to barely reaches 350 megabytes, so you can already guess that the graphics are inspired by the arcade of the 90’s that we mentioned at the beginning, except with many small improvements that allow us to look very striking and colorful to our eyes of the XXI century. Quickly when you start you will begin to identify references to many of the titles with which we have grown up, as the main menu is a map like that of the Gran Turismo saga of PS1 where we will find our garage, a car wash, dealerships of different manufacturers and online and offline competitions.
Our goal is to compete and expand our garage. To do this we have some initial money that we can invest in buying a modest vehicle with which to race in the less demanding tests. Circuits and simple rivals, sometimes in several locations or in tests of a single location will allow us to advance getting stars (3,2 or 1 depending on the position we occupy at the end of the test) which will also be accompanied by money with which to buy more vehicles and continue discovering the entire catalog.
In principle the unlocking of content is demanding enough to have to master the control of the car and know something about the circuits. The rivals are complicated and annoying enough not to turn it into a ride, so it becomes a small addiction in which we need to try and repeat a few times without reaching tedium.
The tests available are; weekend test (a single race), championship (several scoring tests), endurance (long duration tests) and rally (the point to point sections). The rallies can only be run with rally cars, and the other tests are limited by the number of horsepower of the vehicle that we have at the time, to control the level of difficulty.
As for the circuits, there are of all origins and conditions with all the elements that one can imagine. Also on all types of surfaces and with a varied meteorology, both in terms of weather and light conditions. The question is whether this affects the behavior of the vehicle, because at least it has not given me the impression that it does, but I can not be 100% sure that they do not affect. If they do that effect should be enhanced and more noticeable.
As for the control of the cars, it is quite accurate and at least the cars I have tested so far are clearly differentiated from each other. Considering the excellent catalog that there is for purchase, it seems a very complete job. Also the cars get dirty as the tests go on, so we will have to take them to the car wash or paint them in the paint shop. At least for the moment the cars are undamaged, so no worries about bumps or repairs. I have been disqualified for damage in several tests, so the cars are broken, clearly showing their level of damage with smoke that changes from white to black and increases in intensity the closer we are to the end.
The soundtrack included has the virtue of accompanying without disturbing, something that is not easy in this type of arcade, and is in charge of Franikku adding more than 20 melodies. These are added to the more than 80 cars available in the different dealerships, more than 50 tests in which to compete and as many locations to give a good few hours of fun to all those who need to disconnect from the hard simulators without leaving aside our passion for the four wheels.
The release is scheduled for September 1 on Steam (11.95 euros with a 40% discount) and is also expected to be released for Nintendo Switch, and possibly more platforms in the future. At the moment it looks very good and we will follow the development as it is completed.
See you on the track!
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