Liftoff: Drone Racing (PS4) Review
Release Date: November 10, 2020
Publsiher/Developer: astragon Entertainment/LuGus Studios
Platform: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One
Price: $34.99/$39.99 Deluxe Edition
A couple years ago Liftoff: FPV Drone Racing was released on PC and offered a simulation-level approach to the fledgling sport. Utilizing high-definition cameras and FPV Headsets, racers use high-powered drones to attack courses and fight for the coveted first place. Drone racing in terms of “pro sports” may still be a niche market, but it caters directly to gamers who dedicate their free time to being in control of avatars who often can go anywhere under the control of a couple thumbsticks. The merging of the two on PC allowed gamers and racers alike to fully customize and craft their own drone out of hundreds of licensed and official parts then take to the skies realistically without the inevitable crash from a rookie taking a hundreds-of-dollars racer drone and power slamming it into a tree. Now, the developers of that title have decided to craft an edition strictly for console players in Liftoff: Drone Racing.
Liftoff for consoles is created for pros as well as those new to drones. A casual control style puts you in control of an indestructible drone with an infinite battery that responds more like a chopper in Grand Theft Auto or such, with easy self-correction and a “gas pedal” to go forward, while pros can go for full “ACRO Mode” and cause the controller to act exactly like a drone would handle. Turning isn’t just turning, you have to lean forward, then adjust your pitch and yaw to compensate for the corners. A ton of control options let you tweak which benefits or handicaps are active. Casual versus ACRO mode are night and day, as a true drone doesn’t have an accelerate button and you have to rely on proper tweaking of the four rotors to go where you want. I will admit that in ACRO mode I’m just as bad ads when I try to run my son’s drone at home, the only thing different is that the drone’s controller springs to the bottom on the left stick (as it’s the overall motor acceleration), whereas a DualShock will spring to center. I wish this could be changed, but it’s simply not mechanically possible with the PS4. Maybe if we get haptic analog sticks one day...
The thrill of pro drone racing comes in the First-Person-View headset. Drones are fun, but the professionals get the white-knuckle thrill of careening through the air, skimming past trees and rocks as you run through a course. Strangely enough, though, I am not finding any option to simulate this directly in PSVR. One would think that while your mentor straps on a visor to watch through the camera lens you could in theory do the same, augmenting your reality with the physical VR headset. Alas, using the headset only goes into Big Screen mode. Whilst similar, this does not offer the 3D effect, and you can “look around” the screen instead of being locked how likely the FPV cameras officially work.
Even without the VR, though, you may find yourself nauseated, though this is no fault of the game directly. When there’s a fixed camera on a fast-moving drone, you end up with a lot of jerky motions. Getting turned upside down or slamming into the aforementioned rocks and trees results in some crazy camera twists, as there’s not going to be any sort of anti-jiggle or course correction on a drone camera. Once you get the flying down, it’s as smooth as you are, but it proves daunting for first-time flyers. Using the full casual mode does give you the option of flying “behind” your drone in third person, which will help with some of the startup jitters. I also got frustrated at how the fixed camera on the drone is angled one particular way, because when you stop, a drone naturally levels out compared to when it’s leaning and going forward, which means you end up staring more at the sky than the surrounding obstacles while you are trying to orient yourself. As I said though, this is part and parcel to drone racing.
Pilots who want to get down to the nitty-gritty can head to the workbench, where you can adjust to your hearts content, learning how different batteries can benefit the power, but hurt the overall weight of your drone. With official specs and parts, players can actually use Liftoff to “try before you buy” in the real world.
Liftoff: Drone Racing is exactly what it needs to be: a “true” sim of FPV drone racing. It comes with all the benefits and difficulties of the real-world sport, though I wish it would patch in a VR Headset support, even if all it is consists of what you’d really see inside those goggles. If you’re casually looking for a racing thrill you may be disappointed, but if you are a pro or want to learn how to race drones in the real world, practicing on a $35 game is a heck of a lot cheaper than crashing your new $400 drone and starting from scratch.
Pros:
-Real drone sim: players with patience will learn how to truly fly a drone.
-Workbench lets you see how the drones really work and how to fine-tune your craft.
-Several levels of control support allow you to tweak your supports so you can have fun.
-Awesome career mode shows you the history of the young sport.
Cons:
-Real drone sim: players who decide to go “full ACRO” without learning will deal with the frustrations of real drone flight, including mastery of the tricky controls and shaky cams that are unmovable once airborne. Do the tutorial and practice, people. Step by step.
-Some strange menu choices like using up and down to move, then L1 and R1 inside (didn’t figure this out till my second session!)
-Seriously? A game with headsets in it and no native VR compatibility?
Special thanks to astragon Entertainment/LuGus Studios for providing a code for review!