Highway Racer 4:

In Brief:
We were given Highway Racer 2 August 26th, 2021 and Highway Racer 3 on September 9th, 2021. Highway racer 4 is more of the same, though instead of being on a freeway/motorway, you're within a cityscape.

You can see a video of game play HERE

The Game:
There have been some improvements to the game since version 3 was released. Now your progress is saved, with all vehicles you've previously purchased still available with upgrades included and any cash left over when you left the game previously still available.

There are four modes of play One Way, Two Way, Time Attack and Speed Bomb. Below each mode selection there's a best score highlighted. Whichever you select, you can then choose a clear day, night or a rainy day environment. One way and two way speak for themselves. Time attack gives you a specific amount of time to travel as far as you can at the fastest speeds without crashing. Get plenty of near misses in any four of the modes to boost your score. In the Speed bomb mode you have to keep your vehicle moving above 80Km/hr. If you reduce your speed under this speed the bombs timer starts to reduce unless you reach 80Km/hr again. At times traffic can become quite heavy and you may have to brake to avoid crashing. Minor crashes just slow you down and don't stop the game. If you crash, there is an indicator on the left that shows the bomb timer reducing. If you can get back up to speed before the timer reaches zero, it will over a short time recover. If you fail to reach the optimum speed before the indicator reaches zero, the bomb blows up (see the last image below).

Speed bomb is the only mode where you can continue to move onward if you have a minor prang. Full throttled crashes will end up like the other three modes with the score board appearing. When you 'inevitably' crash into another vehicle the score board shows you your total score, which comprises of four different categories; i.e, total distance travelled, near misses, the time you kept your vehicle travelling at above 100Km/hr and distance travelled in the opposite direction.

As you progress you earn money, which can be used to purchase better vehicles or buy upgrades for them. Unlike previous versions of the game, your progress is carried forwards when you close the game down, then boot up again. Though you still can't exit the game without using the Alt+F4 keys.

You can choose to use a controller with this game

Conclusion:
W = Accelerate
A - Steer Left
D = Steer Right
S = Brake & Reverse
C = Change Camera Position
L = Lights
Esc (while in game = Takes you to the main menu
Alt+F4 = Exit

Conclusion:
This is quite a playable game especially now that the issues in previous versions appear to have been fixed. There's really not that much difference between the four modes with respect to you travel the same road through a cityscape; and, depending which viewpoint you choose, you don't see much of the city. (My preferred view is the top down view, but you can see the city ahead when in the drivers seat; which is probably the most challenging view to play in.

Highway Racer 4 is a decent enough game, with lots of options to play around with; however, for me it's not a game I'd play for extended periods as I like to go sightseeing when I play many of my vehicle based games such as most of the Need for Speed games and my favourite racing games the WRC World Rally Championship games and the early Flatout rally games (the Flatout complete pack of four games HERE will probably be 80% off in the Steam Christmas sale which starts later today and most of the earlier WRC World Rally Championships games will also be discounted) . Wreckfest is the latest iteration of the Flatout series; great game, though sadly it's going the way many of our latest games go, with too many additional DLC's added to the game once the base game has been released.

In todays game, sightseeing is extremely limited to the road ahead and some stylized city blocks. So, overall I'd say the game is ideal for coffee breaks or in between more in depth games. The four different modes and the large amout of configurability to your vehicles gives this game plenty of re-playability.

There are two buttons to the top right of the games screen; a camera, that allows you to change the perspective from top down to behind the wheel and in between (or use the C key). as well as a pause button.

Notes on Security

I scanned a zipped copy of the installed game using Virus Total and it found zero hits from 61 antimalware engines. You can see the scan HERE

Imagine my surprise when I decided to check the latest freebie from Epic Games. I was playing the latest iteration of the franchise a few moments ago, and will be playing it again after dinner (Fallout 76). We get all three of the original Fallout games, that are in an isometric viewpoint i.e. Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.

Also, the Steam sale has just started, so lock up your wallets and purses before you bankrupt yourselves ;)