Demo Play Thursday - Formula Legends On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Formula Legends from 3DClouds.

I'm a fan of Formula 1, and racing in general, and i'm always keen on trying new arcade style racers. what interested me in Formula Legends was the inclusion of many different era's of cars, teams, and drivers. the game doesn't have the license for official names so the alternatives they've come up with work well enough.

The makes it clear that it's a demo. but what the game fails to explain is how the demo differs, if it does, from the main game. the issues include not knowing what tracks are included in the game. i pondered whether the game would focus on famous tracks of the eras or just focus on the tracks which are in all eras included. the demo doesn't have all the teams and drivers from some, if not all, the eras included and doesn't detail at any point if this will continue into the main game or not. some games will provide more information, whether via a bullet point list or trailer, as to what more content the retail game has.

i did enjoy the art style, all the cars looked great. the team have taken some liberties with the tracks, shortening them significantly but trying to keep iconic parts of them. But the Switch version seems to have an odd issue with the tyres. they seem to be in a constant state of vibration and never really look like round tyres. it gave the impression the the cars were floating on the track rather than racing on them. i also thought the engine sounds were off when driving the 90's cars.

The demo didn't start with explaining how the controls worked. the demo loads into the main menu with Story Mode being highlighted even tho it's locked and not in the demo. the two modes we can try are Time Attack and Custom Mode. I chose to start with Time Attack to learn how to play the game. unfortunately, the tutorial was in Custom Mode, so i didn't get to experience it for a while.

I felt that the demo for Formula Legends failed to get the message across the players about what the main game is and includes. whether it's a technical issue or limitation of the Switch, the graphical and audio stuff makes me not want to play this version of the game. if there was a trailer showing the game running on other platforms or from the final game then maybe i'd have a different opinion. But the demo as it's presented doesn't do a great job showcasing the game and i honestly wouldn't recommend the Switch version.