Review: Screamer (PS5) – Finally, a Racing Game Doing Something Interesting

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Traditional arcade racing games are becoming rare. While the Forza Horizon series remains popular, it offers a more relaxed, open-world experience rather than the intense, fast-paced action of classic arcade racers.

Modern arcade racers often feel limited in scope. Thankfully, Screamer demonstrates that racing games don’t need official car licenses, huge open worlds, or a blend of realistic and arcade-style handling to be truly enjoyable.

Developer Milestone has revisited one of their classic franchises, updating it for today’s gamers. The resulting racing game is noticeably different from what else is currently available.

Right from the start, it’s clear this isn’t a standard racing game. The opening sequence is strongly influenced by anime, emphasizing the characters just as much as the vehicles themselves.

The heart of the game is its story mode, called The Tournament. It puts you in the middle of an underground Screamer championship, letting you follow multiple teams as they battle it out.

We strongly suggest playing this section (or at least part of it) first. It gradually explains the game’s controls and systems, which is helpful because the racing is quite challenging. We’ll discuss the racing complexity in more detail soon.

The story is packed with potential, featuring multiple teams competing for a huge prize, and each team member has their own motivations. As the story unfolds, you discover how these teammates interact with each other and with their rivals, which creates a complex web of relationships for the narrative to manage.

There’s a big emphasis on character here, and while we applaud the effort, it doesn’t always land.

Okay, so the dialogue is… a lot. Honestly, it’s pretty over-the-top and the voice acting doesn’t really save it. It’s kinda cheesy, which isn’t always bad, but after a while, it just gets annoying because there’s so much of it. It starts to wear on you, you know?

The Tournament is a good introduction to Screamer’s racing, and we believe starting players there is a smart move. However, it might be a bit too long, and the story and characters aren’t compelling enough to keep players engaged throughout the entire experience.

Honestly, Career Mode is a must-play! It’s where you really get to grips with how the game works, but it’s also how you unlock all the cool stuff – new drivers, tons of parts to customize your cars, awesome music, and so much more. I’m really enjoying it!

One of the best parts of this game is how much attention is paid to the characters and story. Each driver gets their own distinct car and a special power, giving the game a lot of personality – especially when you’re actually driving!

Screamer and Inertial Drift have similar controls: you steer with the left stick and use the right stick to drift.

It took a little while to wrap my head around it at first, but honestly, after just a few practice laps, it started to feel pretty natural. Don’t think it’s easy though – you really need to get the hang of using both sticks at the same time, and nailing the braking and acceleration, if you want to smoothly drift around those corners.

The game mostly shifts gears automatically, but you can get a speed boost by shifting manually at the right time. If you’re used to playing racing games with automatic transmission, it might take some practice to master this system.

It’s normal to face obstacles, and it can be discouraging at first. But overcoming those challenges makes success even more rewarding.

Above the standard driving controls, you’ll see meters at the top of the screen that charge up as you play. The meter on the left tracks your boost; filling a section lets you unleash a quick burst of speed.

The gauge on the right fills up when you use boost. Once full, you can activate a Strike, which is a powerful forward rush that destroys any cars in its path. Successfully landing a Strike then refills your boost, creating a rewarding cycle if you can keep it up.

Landing a Strike on another racer can be difficult. It needs a moment to charge up, making it hard to aim accurately when everyone is speeding by at high speeds.

A few of the courses were a bit difficult to use at times. It might just take some getting used to, but there are definitely some complex parts that require careful attention and a slower pace to complete successfully.

Honestly, a lot of it probably comes down to getting good and learning the tracks, but some of them just don’t feel right. The game is at its best when you’re flying around big, sweeping corners and hitting those long straights to really build up a good boost. But when everyone’s crammed together in a bunch of tight turns, it just gets chaotic and messy really fast.

Screamer’s racing isn’t flawless, but it’s unique and incredibly satisfying when you get into a good rhythm.

The game is visually striking and full of style. It features a bold user interface, unique artwork, and incredibly cool vehicles. Everything is a bit extravagant, and that’s part of what makes it so appealing.

The sound and music really match the high-energy gameplay – it’s all super intense and keeps you pumped up with some seriously energetic tracks. It just adds to the overall feeling of being in a non-stop action experience.

There’s plenty to keep you busy beyond the main Tournament. You can enjoy a variety of customizable Arcade modes, including single races, team races, time trials, and challenges where you race against the clock to hit checkpoints.

The game includes both online and offline multiplayer modes, though we haven’t had a chance to fully test them yet.

Lastly, we just wanted to touch on the DualSense stuff, which is pretty well executed here.

One of the best features of the adaptive triggers is the subtle feedback you get – you can actually feel R2 vibrate when it’s time to shift gears. It’s a small detail, but it’s surprisingly useful when you’re in the heat of the moment.

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2026-03-22 14:08