TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 1,952
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
It's like if F-Zero broke up the races so you could have Smash Bros. brawls.
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Airframe Ultra is looking to be the good kind of multiplayer game: No engagement hacking or battle passes—you pay once, but it has lasting value and, depending on its success at launch, dev support. There's no ranked play, but it's still a game with competitive depth and mechanics to master.
When I sat down to play it with developers from Videocult and staff from publisher Akupara Games, they made it clear that having as little in the way between the start menu and the beginning of a race was a development priority.
Similar to our 2024 FPS of the year, Straftat, or last year's Battlefield 6 it's substantial competitive multiplayer for people who don't want their brain chemistry manipulated to keep them playing.
But Airframe Ultra is not a shooter, it's a hoverbike racing game with a ton of weird, neat quirks and complexity under the hood. You can dismount your bike at any time, trading its smooth, confident movement for your little biker dude's deliberately weighty, QWOP-y shuffle.
You're mainly allowed to do this because every race ends in a brawl. Airframe Ultra's tracks are broken up with wide arenas where you're expected to dismount, kill your opponents, then hop back on your bike and keep racing when the timer's up. You get points for knocking out other players and winning individual legs of the race. The highest score at the end of the course (or whatever ending condition you set for your lobby) wins.
The dismount feature does have another delightful wrinkle for those of us who spent recess observing roly poly bugs in the dirt: You can just chill out and explore the maps on foot, and the game will let you (at least until you get mercy-teleported to the next arena).
I live for this type of thing: A fast-paced racing game has no reason not to just throw up an invisible wall and tell you to get back to it, and it speaks to how intricately designed these maps are that you can slow down, smell the roses, and have a good time doing it.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Rain World co-creator James Primate quipped that it's "Fall Guys with iron pipes," but since I never played Fall Guys, I was reminded more of Smash Bros. during the brawls. I'm not talking "Fox only, Final Destination," more "It's your cousin's birthday and we've got items on with the max number of players on Hyrule Temple."
There are weapons and power ups scattered on the track and in the arenas, with a tasty, anarchic vari...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
You are now subscribed
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Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Airframe Ultra is looking to be the good kind of multiplayer game: No engagement hacking or battle passes—you pay once, but it has lasting value and, depending on its success at launch, dev support. There's no ranked play, but it's still a game with competitive depth and mechanics to master.
When I sat down to play it with developers from Videocult and staff from publisher Akupara Games, they made it clear that having as little in the way between the start menu and the beginning of a race was a development priority.
Similar to our 2024 FPS of the year, Straftat, or last year's Battlefield 6 it's substantial competitive multiplayer for people who don't want their brain chemistry manipulated to keep them playing.
But Airframe Ultra is not a shooter, it's a hoverbike racing game with a ton of weird, neat quirks and complexity under the hood. You can dismount your bike at any time, trading its smooth, confident movement for your little biker dude's deliberately weighty, QWOP-y shuffle.
You're mainly allowed to do this because every race ends in a brawl. Airframe Ultra's tracks are broken up with wide arenas where you're expected to dismount, kill your opponents, then hop back on your bike and keep racing when the timer's up. You get points for knocking out other players and winning individual legs of the race. The highest score at the end of the course (or whatever ending condition you set for your lobby) wins.
The dismount feature does have another delightful wrinkle for those of us who spent recess observing roly poly bugs in the dirt: You can just chill out and explore the maps on foot, and the game will let you (at least until you get mercy-teleported to the next arena).
I live for this type of thing: A fast-paced racing game has no reason not to just throw up an invisible wall and tell you to get back to it, and it speaks to how intricately designed these maps are that you can slow down, smell the roses, and have a good time doing it.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Rain World co-creator James Primate quipped that it's "Fall Guys with iron pipes," but since I never played Fall Guys, I was reminded more of Smash Bros. during the brawls. I'm not talking "Fox only, Final Destination," more "It's your cousin's birthday and we've got items on with the max number of players on Hyrule Temple."
There are weapons and power ups scattered on the track and in the arenas, with a tasty, anarchic vari...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?