Aero GPX is the F-Zero game I wanted

Highlights

Aero GPX could be the F-Zero sequel that fans have been waiting for, as it closely resembles the classic gameplay and style of the original series.
Although the game is in the Early Access stage, it impresses with its track design and handling and offers a fair and entertaining racing experience.
While there are differences from the original F-Zero games, such as separate health and boost bars, Aero GPX captures the essence of the popular series.

Twenty years! It’s been twenty years since the world saw a completely new F-Zero game. While we did get F-Zero 99 last year, that was more of a battle royale remix of the original SNES game. I love F-Zero 99 and it’s still one of my favorite games to waste a few minutes on, but there aren’t many tracks and it’s intentionally online-only. And I know we got some F-Zero bones in Mario Kart 8 too. But the last TRUE The new entry in the series was F-Zero: Climax for the Game Boy Advance (Japan only, baby!). Right before that came F-Zero: GP Legend and F-Zero GX for the GameCube. We’ve been waiting so long for a sequel to F-Zero. So very long. And folks, I think Aero GPX might be that sequel.

I say “might be” because the game just hit Steam in Early Access this week. At this point, Aero GPX is still missing a good chunk of its tracks and characters, as well as a few extra features here and there. Some of the graphics on the tracks look incomplete, and that’s because Aaron McDevitt says they are. Who is Aaron McDevitt? I’m pretty sure he’s the guy making this game – mostly on his own? Steam has his name on it, and his updates use first person! The downsides of Early Access are that the game also has minor bugs scattered throughout – including one that locked out all my keyboard and controller inputs during the tutorial, which always makes you feel like you’re playing it completely wrong. Again, it’s Early Access, and the developer is very clear about what’s been implemented and what’s still being worked on.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about Aero GPX as a game, not a future game. The short version is F-Zero. Seriously, this is probably as close to F-Zero as you can get without getting an angry email from a powerful lawyer. It plays exactly like F-Zero GX and looks exactly like F-Zero X. Don’t get me wrong – absolutely nothing is swiped or stolen or directly copied. There are no tricks. But honestly, aside from one or two gameplay twists, anyone who’s played a previous F-Zero could buy this and know exactly what they’re doing without going through the tutorial. You race against 30 enemies at once. You have your yellow booster on the ground. You race along pink tracks to refill your health. What color is the boost? Oh, honey, you know it’s green! If I played you a half-second clip of this game, you would easily believe it was an F-Zero game that was currently in the middle of its development cycle.

Side note: I am not saying that Aero GPX is just a good “sci-fi future racer”. This game is not like Fast RMX or Extreme G or Wipeout, all series that I like a lot. Aero GPX has basically one Inspiration and that inspiration is F-goddamn-Zero. The tracks and drivers are all brightly colored and have a distinct comic style. The announcer has the exact same charisma as the announcer in F-Zero X and GX. Literally. It’s like the voice actor listened to the old announcer and just adopted that cadence every time he recorded. At the same time, the music of each track is a private label version of the other series’ songs. There is a stage that clearly Big Blue and clearly has music inspired by Big Blue. Again, nothing is stolen, but it is absolutely obvious how much Aaron McDevitt (am I pronouncing that right?) receives the F-Zero series.

The good news is: hooray, Aero GPX is more than just aesthetics! Yes, yes, the game plays like F-Zero. But that would mean absolutely nothing if the tracks were bad or the cars drove like garbage. They’re not. They don’t. Most of the available tracks are actually pretty good. I’ve already used “F-Zero” to describe everything, so that applies again. Tunnels, loops, sections of road without guardrails, etc. All well designed by someone who understands what makes this old series so fun. These levels feel fair; I rarely gave up because something about the track itself frustrated me. If anything, I kept going back for another race or trying to complete a challenge on a higher difficulty. And you know what? I’m bad! Just like I did in the old games!

And that brings me to what different. And the answer is… not much! Instead of lives, you can simply restart a level on failure. Death resurrects you rather than ending the race entirely. Health and boost abilities are separate, now both with their own bars. Unlike in the later F-Zero games, using boost doesn’t hurt you or take away health. You can boost to your heart’s content, then drive across the green lane to refill. This makes each boost less of a calculated sacrifice, but it takes a lot of stress out. Harder races feel more manageable because I don’t have to worry about blowing up my car when I pass 23rd. Still, some people might not like this particular switch. And tracks tend to have a bit more flying/falling sections than F-Zero fans might be used to. You get used to it after a while, but sometimes they break the flow of the game a bit.

There’s also a career mode with a few casual challenges that culminate in full Grand Prix Cups. It’s not a story mode (yet?), but there are a few additional challenges to complete, like one-on-one competitions and racing against a whole fleet of a specific car. Often these challenges unlock additional cars as well. If you want, you can still race normally, just like in F-Zero X and F-Zero GX. Those races? From start to finish, they play a lot like… well, you get the idea. Vroom, zoom, explode.

The good news is that Aero GPX is the F-Zero game I’ve been wanting for two decades. That’s the lifetime of a third-year college student. If you’ve been missing the exact feel of the F-Zero series, this is it. It’s like The Talented Mr. Ripley of racing games, just with less murder, and I don’t remember exactly what happens in The Talented Mr. Ripley. The game does enough right to feel as close to a spiritual successor as possible without being made by the original team. And as I said, not everything is finished or revealed yet. There are features that could change completely to become more or less like F-Zero. Who knows? I don’t know! But I don’t regret spending $17 to buy it. I’ll probably keep coming back to it, like I do — not to have to rewrite the title — this Games for Nintendo 64 and GameCube. Oh, and there’s a demo on Steam, so you don’t have to take my word for it.