GameStop has caught a lot of well-deserved flack over the last two weeks as the national video game retailer remained open in areas of mass COVID-19 infections like New York City. After reportedly telling its employees to “Wrap their hands in plastic bags while they continued working” while other non-essential businesses closed to prevent the spread of the viral outbreak, the organization finally relented into public and government pressure and shut down in-store use of all of its brick and mortar locations last Sunday.
Although GameStop’s delay in closing their stores for the sake of the health of employees did draw ire from some, one can make the argument that video games are just as essential during inside lockdowns as the sanctioned sale of alcohol, cannabis, and Peloton indoor bicycles.
Related: Grammy Museum Announces Digital Programming Initiatives Amid Coronavirus Shutdown
Take it from this writer, who has never has been driven to spend money on video games, and has since found the last-minute purchase of a Nintendo Switch to be very practical for passing time while trapped inside. One of the main reasons for that is there’s a game outside the traditional categories that does a very entertaining job at keeping one mentally stimulated while enjoying the smooth power of ’80s synthwave, known as Music Racer.
For fans out there who are into bands like Doom Flamingo, and enjoy ambient visuals from those chillwave night-drive YouTube videos, Music Racer is going to be a pretty solid investment while most of the fun things in life are paused for the moment.
Presented as a “Rhythm Game With Style,” Music Racer was released back on January 29th. The one-player car format takes the player into neon-colored settings with retro-inspired visuals and power-synthwave music set as the soundtrack. Since this is a one-player-only racing game, the user must complete the track by reacting in real-time to the beat of the rhythmic beats of whatever song is playing on that level. Both the speed and mood of each run are determined by the synthwave compositions chosen, and the various obstacles and mid-race awards are generated from the music. Cool, right?
Check out the game’s trailer below, and note that it runs for a very affordable $6.99 on the Nintendo online store.
Music Racer – PlayStation Release Trailer
[Video: PlayStation]