Reviews Parking Garage Rally Circuit – Review

Unique game design and inspiring visuals are rare to find in today’s games industry. However, seeing a video pop up on my X feed by indie developer Walaber, I was instantly impressed. The playful visual approach captured me, the use of colour and Saturn style visuals fused together perfectly. So often I see retro inspired games that appear to merge design traits from many era’s of gaming yet get none right.

Parking Garage Rally circuit is a simple game at its core, hold the drift button while steering into corners. The longer the car slides, the more powerful the boost exiting the corners. The boost will change from yellow to aqua blue depending on the boost strength. Chain these boosts and you car will gradually increase its top speed until it is virtually uncontrollable. Of course this means cornering is more unpredictable and jumps will send the car flying all over the p[lace, in many cases selective use of the brake is critical to keep the speed managed. Though at the time of writing this review, the braking system is not fully understood. Sometimes holding the brake can caused unexpected instability, sometimes it holds onto the boost. Suffice to say there are many hidden techniques and short cuts to discover.

If you are finding yourself struggling with a course, simply head to the ranking screen and spectate other drivers. This can give clues as to technique and route being used. Sometimes small changes can make all the difference on those competitive leaderboard times. Those times not only competitive but hugely compelling, with the swift one-button restart option coming in very handy.

The game features 3 cars and 8 courses. The car classes Light, Heavy and Ultra all increase the speed and challenge. While the varied courses all test the players in different ways. The first challenge is to learn where to go, following the ‘reward cup’ ghosts is the best strategy, then before you know it, you’ll be sucked in and well on the way to beating them. Beat the cup cars and you’ll find yourself racing similarly placed ghost cars from the leaderboard, a nice touch more games should consider for inclusion. One the races are completed there is also an endurance mode, though I found this has limited appeal. Unless you are a top 1% leaderboard player you will quickly find your limit after merely a few runs. Between one checkpoint and the next found I reached a plateau and quickly got bored of the mode.

Audio also deserves a mention, while the car sounds are basic, there is an appropriate range of authentic spot effects combined with some great video game tunes. In house music has sadly been a dying art in recent years, so credit where it is due, PGRC certainly provides the complete mid-90’s gaming experience. There are also a range of cheats

So, to conclude, Parking Garage Rally Circuit is a wonderful achievement for a lone indie developer. Packed with nostalgia while the gameplay throughout is authentic and compelling. Though there are frustrating moments of inexplicable car behavior. I weigh this up with the fun random moments and the trade-off seems worth it in the main. It’s incredibly cheap at around £8, and so far with over 16 hours of play time logged across my PC and Steam Deck, it has been worth every penny. Highly recommended for some simple gameplay fun that harks back to yesteryear.