The Nintendo Switch finally gets an excellent arcade racer in the form of Gear.Club Unlimited by Microïds and Eden Games. This was first a mobile game. When I found this out, I was envisioning every super car parked behind a paywall of some sort. I’m happy to report that is not the case here and all the content, tracks and cars are fully unlocked. With all the disastrous decisions made with microtransactions in gaming lately, this was a very wise move by Microïds to give players the full experience without any catches.

Gear.Club Unlimited is the first game on the Switch to feature licensed cars. The vehicle roster includes the McLaren 675LT, Mercedes-AMG GT S, Nissan GTR Nismo, Ruf CTR 3, Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport and many other popular sport cars. There is an impressive amount of tracks available. With 400 road courses to master, it will take many hours to complete this game. The duration of the races are often quite short, but these shorter runs are a big part of what makes the gameplay so addictive. While this game might not appeal to racing sim enthusiasts, it’s a ton of fun for any gamers looking for a solid arcade racer. It’s very easy to pickup as the gameplay is all about speed and drifting through the twists and turns and not dependent on absolute precision. The game is more focused on having a good time and it’s absolutely a blast to play. It brings me back to the days of Cruis’n USA in the arcades and the old school Need for Speed games. With all the racing simulators out this year, it’s a refreshing change of pace and an excellent addition to the growing Nintendo Switch library.

The visuals are what we have come to expect from this platform and hits 1080P docked and targets 720P in handheld mode while running at 30 frames per second. It’s a solid looking arcade racer with a consistent frame rate and bright visuals. I enjoyed the soundtrack as well, which contains some catchy beats. The audio for the cars sound pretty impressive, as your exhaust pops and crackles and the engine tones are fairly realistic as they rev up and down their respective powerbands. My daily driver is a Nissan 370Z with bolt-ons and they really captured the unique tone and growl of the VHQ37HR V6 throughout the entire RPM range.

The game’s difficulty and driving assists can be altered at any point. There is also a nifty rewind feature where you can reverse time by 10 seconds and correct whatever mistake you happened to make. The races are mixed up to keep things nice and fresh that include: Standard, Time Attack and Off-Road Rally. The variety here is key and when combined with the smaller races in Gear.Club Unlimited, gamers will find themselves blasting through 10-15 courses with each session. Time flies when you are having fun.

As you win races you’ll earn credits, stars and experience points that can be used to upgrade your current car (engine, transmission and brakes) or purchase new rides. This is all handled in the garage, which can be found on the world map alongside available car dealers and all the road courses which grow in number as you progress through the game. You can customize the look of your cars as well by acquiring different body kits and wheels. You’ll need to unlock certain components of the garage, but in time you’ll have access to multiple bays for modifying your collection.

For the competitive racers out there, Eden Games has implemented time trial events. Here players will race against other players ghosts. With enough practice and determination, you can land yourself on the Leaderboards. Accomplishing this will net you League points which opens the door to race against more challenging players. The online component to the Nintendo Switch is definitely lacking at the moment, so this was a smart way to offer a multiplayer aspect that works well and is yet another addictive factor to keep you coming back for more. Additionally, there is also local split-screen which really rounds out this package.

Gear.Club Unlimited simply delivers an entertaining arcade racing experience that fits perfectly on the Nintendo Switch. Gamers have loads of content to keep them engaged for dozens of hours and the Leaderboards and local split-screen multiplayer make this a real sleeper hit on this platform from Eden Games.

Review Copy provided by Microïds