Screamer Review: The Ultimate Arcade Racer Revival of the Generation
Arcade racers have languished in obscurity for years, but the stunning revival of Screamer, a franchise dormant for three decades, has spectacularly rebooted not just the 1990s original but the entire genre. In the formative era of video games, racing was dominated by two competing philosophies: arcade and simulation. Initially, the exaggerated thrills of series like OutRun and Hang-On, later followed by Ridge Racer and Burnout, reigned supreme. However, Gran Turismo shifted the landscape, establishing simulators as the standard and rendering arcade racers a rare breed.
A Surprising Comeback with Anime Flair
Against this backdrop, the return of Screamer is a genuine surprise. Developed by Italian studio Milestone, known for serious driving sims such as MotoGP and Ride, this entry is an unabashed arcade-style racer. To emphasize its departure from realism, it features a fully-fledged anime story mode, complete with an assortment of whacky characters and their equally zany cyberpunk cars. Astonishingly, it proves to be sensationally good, benefiting from Milestone's experience on titles like the underrated Hot Wheels Unleashed.
This new Screamer bears little resemblance to the 1995 games, which showcased vehicles akin to actual touring cars. Instead, it is a third-person racer with a handling model heavily oriented towards drifting, but everything else is novel. The narrative-based Tournament mode pits teams of three drivers against each other for a colossal cash prize, revealing amusingly pithy tales of murderous revenge and obsession as players uncover the entangled relationships between characters.
Innovative Gameplay Mechanics
Races are gamified from start to finish, with steering, acceleration, and braking subordinate to other driving systems. The most prominent is shifting up on each car's semi-automatic gearbox as revs hit the redline, rewarded by a burst of speed and flames from exhaust pipes. This charges the sync bar, which grants nitro boosts when triggered. Releasing it at the perfect moment extends the effect, akin to Gears Of War's active reload, turning every race into a test of skill.
Opposite the sync bar is an entropy bar governing offence and defence. Charged by activating boost, it allows players to trigger a brief shield or a destructive strike on opponents, the latter also charging the sync bar. Deciding when to use these interconnected abilities creates a network of split-second decisions. The ultimate power, Overdrive, requires a full entropy bar and acts like a Mario Kart star, transforming the car into a flaming arrow of destruction—faster and lethal to others, but risky as clipping the track causes an explosion.
Challenging Learning Curve and Accessibility
Screamer's control setup is initially confusing, with drifting assigned to the right analogue stick, allowing simultaneous steering and drifting. This undoes years of muscle memory, making the learning curve steep. The game does not coddle players; while early races focus on finishing, later ones demand podium finishes, requiring mastery of systems and handling. This challenge is compounded by new drivers introduced regularly, each with unique cars and skillsets, such as chaining strikes or longer boosts.
Completing events unlocks drivers, cars, 32 tracks across four locations, and cosmetic modifications like bodykits and paint colors. The story, told through anime cutscenes and multilingual conversations, adds a hyperbolic fiction that complements the driving model. Once finished, players access all content in Arcade and multiplayer modes, supporting up to 16 racers online and four players in local split-screen—a rarity that enhances social gaming.
Notably, Screamer offers abundant accessibility options for disabled gamers, including game speed adjustments, one-handed modes, re-mappable buttons, and color-blind modes, making it inclusively designed despite its difficulty.
Final Verdict
Screamer is a surprise on multiple levels: an arcade racer in a simulation-dominated era, with a fully-formed plot, anime art style, and over-the-top driving model. Couch co-op is the icing on an already generous cake. While it may defy dabblers, dedicated players will find it endlessly compelling.
In Short: An anime-infused arcade racer with a full-blown story, cracking multiplayer, and an OTT driving model that gamifies every part of its tricky, knife-edge races.
Pros: Great risk/reward mechanics, well-designed trade-offs between offensive powers and speed boosts, four-player couch co-op, and excellent accessibility options.
Cons: Off-puttingly steep learning curve, hand ache from continuous trigger use, and flatmates require significant training for competitive local multiplayer.
Score: 8/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £59.99
Publisher: Milestone
Developer: Milestone
Release Date: 26th March 2026
Age Rating: 16
