Nitro Canyon Rush

Nitro Canyon Rush doesn't pretend to be a serious sim. It's an arcade racer built around drifting through canyon tracks, chaining boost from clean slides, and hunting for hidden shortcuts. The sense of speed is excellent and the controls are forgiving enough that you feel fast even when you're sloppy.

Tracks loop through dusty canyons, old mining towns, and cliffside roads, and each one hides alternate routes you only find by poking around. Learning a track's secrets to shave seconds off your time is where the game really opens up. Car handling varies enough that your choice of ride actually matters.

It leans a bit repetitive once you've seen all the environments, and we wished there were more tracks. Still, for short pick-up-and-race sessions it hits the spot.

What we liked

• Satisfying drift-and-boost rhythm
• Hidden shortcuts reward exploration
• Easy to learn, fun from the first race