It’s a case of Need for Speed: Underground meets F-Zero X in this debut release from upstart publisher Current Games. Favouring arcade sensibilities, it features custom body kit equipped sports cars, exotics and modern muscle cars tearing around futuristic racetracks peppered with boost pads and repair strips – hence the F-Zero comparison. The often-forgotten racer Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights would have been an apt comparison too, especially considering it has the same endorsement, sharing a subtitle in the process.
Although we’re burning rubber on asphalt here, rather than partaking in anti-gravity racing, the futuristic theme is hammered home early. It lathers on the neon hues with a thick spread, from the trackside detailing to the vehicles themselves bearing glowing neon highlights around their rims and other bodywork. Not only this, but the HUD is neon-coloured and positioned behind the vehicle itself, showing speed, damage and weapon cooldowns. It’s a neat touch that does make sense on paper – your eyes are always going to be centred on the vehicle – but messy in practise, vanishing off screen when braking heavily and becoming hard to read when boosting.
Over time, it emerges to be another part of Cyber Clutch in need of additional tinkering. This racer made its debut on PC in 2024 as an early access release, and it still feels like it isn’t quite at the finishing line. Neither is it trailing behind in last place, as it’s clear a lot of work has gone into the vehicle modification aspect and some of the track design is creative too, featuring the kinds of courses we could only ever find in a futuristic endeavour. Twist, turn, and burn.
There’s a tutorial to ease you in which focuses on the drifting model and the ability to charge the plasma machine gun. Once familiar, you’re able to either play online – which supports cross play and has ranked matches, complete with a leaderboard – or jump into the Grand Prix cup mode. Well, not so much ‘jump’ – cups are locked, with just one available from the outset. A cup comprises of three races, and rather than secure a podium placing you must finish 1st overall to unlock the next cup, with new vehicles and rims to win along the way. I hit a brick wall on the fourth cup, trying several times but only managing 2nd place. My options were to either try again, revert to playing online (mostly with bots, who fill in the spaces), or select a single event race. An elimination race mode would have been ideal considering this is combat focused.
The driving model is serviceable, yet there’s room for improvement. Drifting feels oddly disconnected from simply trying to stay on track, requiring a few moments to reacquaint with the road and re-centre when snapping out of the drifting model. The physics engine is more problematic, with sights that included colliding into a landmine and being flung through the air, coming to complete standstill when hitting a pillar, and driving sideways on two wheels when hitting a wall. Trying to stay on track is an engaging enough challenge though, with courses that occasionally lack barriers, cylindrical tunnels to spin around and exit safely from (i.e. without landing on the roof), and even repair pads cheekily placed under ceiling-mounted crushers.
The combat aspect is fun, too, including a searing orbital laser blast – which, oddly, doesn’t slow racers but will deplete shields – and the ability to leave a long trail of flames behind. Machine guns and rockets must be aimed manually, adding a degree of tact, while a well-paced mine is guaranteed to find a target. Most races start off messy and chaotic as the initial weapon cooldown expires around ten seconds into a race when vehicles are still bunched together, meaning it’s possible to get a couple of quick kills in during the first lap. The HUD also indicates if a mine or such as been activated by showing a ‘hit’ icon, which is oddly satisfying.
Vehicles reach top speed (250mph, or thereabouts) rapidly, and there’s potential for airtime – with an achievement to unlock for a mid-air kill. Tracks have alternative paths and a few segments that favour the brave, such as optional curved walls to traverse. A lot of tracks are merely reverse however, so if you play online for a long period you may end up racing in the same location back-to-back. The same also goes for the music (well, not the reverse part) in the sense that you may hear the same BGM twice in a row on two different tracks.
At around £17, Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights isn’t necessarily being miss sold – it’s a reasonable price point for something that’s light on content currently. There’s just enough to get stuck into, with weight classes coming into play during the Grand Prix, while the vehicle customisation aspect may hold appeal to those who enjoy tinkering. I really enjoyed the more non-traditional racers we saw during the Xbox 360 generation such as Split/Second and Blur, but this didn’t scratch that itch for something similar despite having a throwback feel.
If you’re curious about Cyber Clutch, approach it knowing that you aren’t in for something serious. The handling is floaty to the point of being unpredictable, the physics engine will have you bouncing off objects and haphazardly going airborne, and occasionally things become so chaotic that it no longer feels like you’re in control. In moderation, these things could be classed as fun quirks – and in fairness, they do help give the experience an arcade-like feel – but they’re also things that are only acceptable if you know what you’re signing up for.
Current Games’ Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights is out now on PS5, Xbox Series and PC.