Liftoff: Drone Racing | PS4 Review

Before a couple weeks ago, I was completely unaware of the existence of drone racing. It’s true that drones have become more and more common these past few years. With drones becoming cheaper and more commercially viable, a new subculture has emerged: FPV drone racing, short for First-Person View.

Amateurs and professionals alike have taken a shine to drone racing, and those who are super serious about it tend to go all out on their drone and the accessories associated with them. Including head mount displays that stream live feeds from the drone’s camera, hence the term “first-person view.” Even professional leagues have been established, often holding televised racing events and tournaments. Liftoff: Drone Racing, from LuGus Studios and published by Astragon Entertainment celebrates the hobby with an in-depth drone racing simulator.

It Begins in a Backyard

The primary meat of Liftoff: Drone Racing is in its campaign career mode, which is split into five annual racing seasons. You start out as a newbie to drone piloting beginning with tutorial exercises under the tutelage of Joshua Bardwell, a real life prominent figure in the drone scene. Once you learn the basics of the controls, you’re off on your career path to becoming a professional drone pilot. Beginning with the first annual drone racing circuit in the year 2015, to eventually working your way towards the 2019 FPV Masters Finals in Paris, France.

On top of career mode, there’s also quick race and freestyle modes. Quick race mode is just as it sounds, and Freestyle is a mode that allows you to hone your piloting skills without opponents or time constraints in any environment you wish. Having absolutely no experience or knowledge of this subculture, I mostly just hung out in freestyle mode, figuring things out for myself. I also highly recommend doing the tutorials. As I’ve said, this game, more than anything, is a simulator and I was completely taken aback by how intricate the controls worked. After just coming off of playing Watch Dogs: Legion, a game also featuring playable drones, I assumed playing this would be a naturally easy transition.

Don’t crash!

Controlling your drone is essential in playing this game, and this is unfortunately where I had the most trouble. Several flight styles exist, ranging from full assist for noobs, all the way to what the game calls “acro mode” meaning full simulation, with varying levels of intricacies in between. But even with full assist mode, I either found myself flying too slowly, unable to maneuver tight corners, or still finding myself crashing into objects and ending up in the drink. The frustration of my constant collisions and my inability to find a comfortable setting prevented me from fully enjoying what Liftoff: Drone Racing has to offer.

I’m aware that it’s completely on me and is at no fault of the game itself. This is still a well made experience, and I’m sure seasoned drone enthusiasts will appreciate the detailed and immersive simulation. Those who know how to fly will feel at home with Liftoff’s flight mechanics, and will surely be able pull off some impressive stunts and aerial acrobatics. Which, I’ll say, is cool to see in action from the videos I’ve seen online of this game by seasoned players.

Pimp my Drone

What kind of a simulation would Liftoff: Drone Racing be without the ability to customize your drone? Plenty of options and styles are available to fully trick out your drone. You can customize everything from the body frame, the battery pack, camera, motors, and propellers. People into the culture will appreciate the options available featuring parts and accessories from real drone manufacturers. 

If you’re like me and have no idea what you’re doing, there is a selection of pre-made drones or what the game calls “blueprints” so you can just pick up and go. The more you progress through the main campaign, the more different parts and skins are available to you to unlock like loot boxes, but these are earned in-game and not with real money.

Sights and Sounds

The environmental graphics you fly around in do look good and are what you’d expect from current generation hardware. There are plenty of different tracks and environments both indoor and outdoor to race through and explore. A rock quarry, an empty convention center hall, an indoor sports area, a high rise construction site; these are just some of the levels on offer in Liftoff: Drone Racing.

I happen to be playing the deluxe edition, which features previously released DLC from the game’s original PC release in one package, which includes a night mode. Every level is playable in either day or night, and I think the levels look best at night. In certain cases, colorful strings of LED lights outline the environments giving the game a synthwave Tron-like aesthetic. That can be combined with enabling a contrails option which leaves a colorful trail behind your drone much like the light cycles from Tron, which pleases me.

The game’s soundtrack is the best part, in my opinion. It consists of ambient, non-intrusive EDM dance music from artist Nightime Burnout. It’s the kind of electronic music that I tend to associate with taking long road trips, exercising, or simply putting on in the background. It’s good enough that I want to own the soundtrack. As for the in-game sound effects, it’s mostly just the whirring sounds of your drone engines.

Final Thoughts

To sum things up, Liftoff: Drone Racing is a solid game. I just assumed this was going to be a simple arcade-style racing game in the vein of something like Wipeout but with drones. Instead, it’s an in-depth simulator that is sure to appeal to anyone who has even a passive interest in drone culture. It looks and plays well and it’s certainly not broken or glitchy. I just personally couldn’t get past the frustrating controls and the game doesn’t hold my interest long enough to keep trying. But the soundtrack is awesome!

To hear me talk more about Liftoff: Drone Racing, be sure to check out Episode 322 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 43:02 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy of Liftoff: Drone Racing provided by Homerun PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox One, Windows PC & Mac.