PEGBRJE: KeyCars and No Wheels Racing
Tiny racing to end the page
KeyCars is a small racing ‘brawler’ made by Kenney, the legendary asset artist who was featured as the first piece of ‘software’ in the entire bundle outside of games. This time however there are no assets to utilize, only assets created to be used as a zany car game in which players only need a single button.
If that sounds ridiculous, it 100% is. Players simply pick a single key on a keyboard, and that is their button to control their car. See, upon pressing that key a car is spawned in the centre with that letter above its head, and begins driving forward automatically. By holding the key, players will automatically turn the car to the right, which is in their only true control over how the car can turn. Once spawned, the car will continue until either the player accidentally drives it off the edge of the map, or another car runs in to it with their front to ‘destroy’ the player, which gives that car a point and continues the game onward. If players want to rejoin, simply press the key (or a new one for fun!) again and join back in the absolute carnage. It’s utterly chaotic, and that’s before the buttons on the floor are utilized to fire projectiles, speed up cars, switch the control direction and even launch a car up in to the air.
There’s not much else to say about KeyCars, realistically; it’s an extremely simple game to pick up and play, fully of the wacky antics that one could expect from a demolition derby in which only one direction can be turned. If you want even more chaos, pressing space will spawn CPUs to join in the fray, and this can be done at any time to add more and totally screw over whoever is in first. With a bunch of different stages to try out, if you need a fun party game for all ages this is definitely one to bring everyone together.
No Wheels Racing is an ‘online’ ‘multiplayer’ ‘racing’ ‘game’ made by Xavier Ekkel, a solo indie developer out of Australia known for experimental styles. This game is no different, for players will be joining a race to see if they can beat the other competitors, only they seem to be lacking… well, wheels.
See, this is probably the first title in the game that actively requires players to be online and race against each other — where players will decide which driver they will bring and which car they think will help them win. Upon starting, however, players realize very quickly that this isn’t as much a game as a deconstruction of what it means to be playing a multiplayer game. The only thing players can do is alter their camera and honk their horn with the rest of the players as they attempt to uncover if there is an actual way to win. After all, the finish line is barely a car’s length away, if it can just move that far somehow then they’d be the winner. Is there a way to win? Who knows, I sure don’t; but I think that’s the point. While we aren’t necessarily doing anything, the twelve players in a lobby are all playing a game together in a multiplayer fashion, regardless of the actual context given. We are all racing, but we aren’t entirely sure what.
If there is a way to actually win, I’d rather not know for No Wheels Racing is a bizarre game to experience but equally chaotic in its execution. Listen to the lovely sounds of horns as you just sit in place, unable to do anything as the Koala’s watch you and eleven others attempt to communicate with each other via honks. Truly nature is amazing. If you’d like to experience this for yourself, you can find it below.
