Fun but short-lived futuristic racer
Another in a long line of futuristic racing games that were popular in the 90s (see Wipeout, Extreme G and its sequel etc), Scorcher offers nothing new to the genre, but provides a fun and reasonably thrilling experience that is fun for a while. Players take control of a Vexoid, a sort of hi-tech cyberbike and can choose from three game modes, Time Attack, Practice or Championship. Practice is fairly self-explanatory, Time Attack pits you against up to five AI opponents on a single course, while Championship is the expected full season competition that takes you through all the available tracks. Your bike's handling is fairly simple, lacking sophistication or depth, but tracks are impressive enough, with a high level of detail and a great sense of speed (although there is some slowdown at times). There is a nice sense of an oppressive future regime, with dark, gloomy backdrops while the AI provides a reasonable challenge. As is typical of the genre, the music is little more than your average techno, which players will either love or hate but the biggest problem here is the lack of tracks. There are only six which simply isn't enough to provide any long-term interest, and when combined with the lack of multi-player, this reduces the game's appeal significantly. While Scorcher impresses with its graphics and course design, it is only as fun as those six, short tracks last, which isn't going to be long for most gamers.
