Strap in and get behind the wheel for a frantic race to the finish line set in Corvus Belli’s infinity universe. There are no banana skins in sight or Koopa shells to swerve in this high tech raucous racer. Plasma canons at the ready and watch out for that oil slick!
REM Racers sees two to five players vie for first place racing remote carts round a variable track using movement templates to outmanoeuvre opponents and playing equipment cards to blast them of course or cause general mayhem. Comparisons with a certain moustached plumber with a fondness for mushrooms are inevitable.
Corvus Belli’s infinity universe (no I haven’t heard of it either-and after checking the website I’m barely any the wiser) provides the backdrop here. It’s a near future setting featuring warring factions and political intrigue but none of this is either explored in or seems particularly relevant to REM Racers, though some of the other miniatures games look interesting and seem to make better use of the setting.
The box gives an age range of fourteen plus but given the complexity and fairly nippy playtime (you play as many laps as you want) I’d say it would work well as a family game or a game night warm up. With its neon colour scheme I could see it being very popular with younger racers.
The artwork is cute and bright with a slight manga style that feels more in line with younger children than fourteen plus. The tone is much more Mario Kart than Mad Max. Unfortunately the best of the art is mainly confined to the box and the manual. The track pieces are by necessity low on features but have a nice neon look. The equipment cards feature static illustrations rather than dynamic scenes depicting their use which feels like a missed opportunity.
Players begin by selecting one of the five unique included vehicles. Each of these has their own individual stats: accuracy which will determine your likelihood of landing hits and the two different defence stats allowing you to negate attacks. There is also a choice of different drivers each with their own potent special ability which refreshes every lap, though after a few plays I found some of these to be much more useful than others. Noor Zoubi for example begins the game with two mines while Krisztina Yagami can change her selected movement template before completing the actual movement-much less useful once you are familiar with the possible moves.
The double sided track pieces can be layed out in many different combinations and the rule book features a good variety of suggested configurations to make sure one race is different from the next. Once the stage is set, karts are placed in their starting position, the starting equipment cards are drawn and it’s time to race.
The game is played in consecutive rounds until all players have completed their final circuit. On their turn each player moves their racer (referred to as remotes) on the track and plays any equipment cards they wish before adjusting speed at the end of their turn. Movement is completed using the many different included templates, which are sorted into various trajectories each with options for different speed levels. Players select one template corresponding to their current speed and use it to plot their movement from one end of the template to the other. For example you may choose to travel in a straight line in which case the speed three template would cover more ground than the speed two. Or maybe you will choose to execute a turn with sharper turns only being available at lower speeds while higher speeds will see you making a more languid curve in pursuit of pole position.
With all this bobbing and weaving between motors crashes are of course not just inevitable but a perfectly valid tactical choice when timed correctly for bumping vexatious competitors off their chosen trajectory and hopefully sending them careering into the track walls or even creating a cluster of collisions as your hapless rivals rebound into each other. Each of these is handled by the handy little collision template which following the roll of a d12 will dictate in which direction remotes are knocked off course so results are far from guaranteed.
I found the most fun to be had in REM Racers involves the liberal and merciless use of the equipment cards- energy pulses, mines, flamethrowers, oil slicks and so on. Who could resist a sly smile as the unwary weave frantically around your carefully plotted mines. There is a good amount of equipment cards, each of which has its own characteristics such as range and damage but of course what you dish out will eventually come back in spades. If you are completely destroyed you simply respawn on the same track section on your turn so things stay zippy and competitive.
All in all REM Racers is a fun and accessible little package which is likely to have stronger appeal for those familiar with the Infinity universe or those who enjoy the racing theme. Personally I did enjoy it more than Heat mainly due to its lighter tone. The use of the movement templates and different speed levels does add a little strategy to proceedings and the unique carts and drivers add a good amount of variability, however the various weapons come so thick and fast that even with the variety on offer after a few plays favourites are quickly established. We found it worked best at three of four players. With two things are a little sparse and at five collisions and complications were just a bit too frequent and slowed things down.
You can purchase Rem Racers on this website.
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