Many PC Indie games seem to follow into three key areas, Role Playing Games, Puzzle Titles and Action games and while of course there are all types of games it seems these are the three I see most often. Not so in the case of one of the more surprising games of the last year. Pyroblazer is similar to a few different console games, most notably one of the classic Sony Playstation games Wipeout, but this is not a bad thing by any means since if you have played the sci-fi racer you understand why it is one of the most popular racing titles on the gaming market. Pyroblazer is surprising because it often feels more like a game you would have played from a bigger developer and in many ways it has become a more enjoyable experience to play compared to games from one of those large developers.


There are two most striking features of Pyroblazer which are sticking in my gamers memory and those are the sheer sense of speed while playing the game and the music. I hate racing games which suffer from the lack of feeling of going fast and unfortunately there are too many racing games where you are supposed to be going hundreds of kilometers per hour and it looks and feels like your grandmother is driving a 1975 Gremlin. Pyroblazer looks and feels like you are blazing out of hell with your ass on fire and it is one of the most enjoyable experiences for it because mixed with the sense of speed is the great level design which is far from your standard sci-fi racing levels. Mixtures of turns, tight tunnels, multiple directions to travel, obstacles and teleports are all thrown in your way.

I also mentioned the music and what was most impressive about the music was how it did not fall into the “sci-fi” category of music many games seem to direct themselves towards. Musically Pyroblazer is entertaining, but also keeps up with the action and most importantly does not distract you from flying/driving your ship, but still is memorable while remaining subtle. Not an easy mix by any means and it shows what a talented team can pull off with out resorting to licensed rock acts. No to be out down the sound effects and announcer voice overs are well done as well and while the voice overs are simple one and two words being spoken in a cliché voice, something which we have heard very similar ones in others games for years, they do make the game slightly more enjoyable.

Gameplay wise I was disappointed with Pyroblazer in the beginning because of the default camera angle, it was difficult to control your ship and not bounce off the environment at all times. Of course there are multiple camera angles you can play from and once I sat down and adjusted the games camera and controls to my liking, the fun began. Unfortunately the game has no multiplayer support and it seems like a game which could have a large online community of racing fans if it was added, but do not let the lack of multiplayer support scare you off because the single player campaign and instant race options with multiple was to actually play the game make it very replayable.


Graphically beyond the sheer sense of speed the game looks great, especially at high resolutions with all of the games bells and whistles turned on the game comes into its own. The different tracks, to the different ships all have a unique look to them and it would be nearly impossible to describe them all but we are not stuck with a dozen ships which all look the same except for their paint job and levels that almost all look the same. The wide variety of level and ship design is another strong point for this game.

But all is not good there is some bad with Pyroblazer, such as the default controls are not set up very well in my opinion. Using the WASD +QE control scheme most gamers are used to today, it should work perfectly, but the QE instead of offering clean controls for your ship instead drive into ground every time. I would also have liked more action with the weapon systems which are almost useless in most races since you can actually win races with our firing a shot and the campaign felt like it was missing one key feature that many of these games hold and that was it is lacking the drive to keep you playing until all hours of the morning just to complete the next track. The game is very fun and enjoyable and is one you will come back to over and over again, but it is doubtful you will sit there and play it for 5 or 6 hours straight.

In the end, Pyroblazer is a must buy for PC gamers looking to play some fast and fun racing, which honestly is so rare on the PC now days I hope we see an expansion or sequel to Pyroblazer soon.

Posted by Brian Edey (Falelorn)

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