Developer Sumo Digital

Publisher Secret

Mode Format PC (tested)

Release Out now

People familiar with the Baby Park course from Mario Kart: Double Dash may argue that the colourful racing series has always been the work of sadists. It’s certainly true that on this tight, largely unadorned loop of track, paved with a disproportionately high number of weapon crates, Nintendo’s cheery mascots become unusually eager to produce a bloodbath out of every lap. But Deathsprint 66 takes the idea much further. With a wealth of laser grids, sheer drops, spinning blades and general splatter, this is a spin on Mario Kart that’s truly made by sadists – and perhaps it’s made for sadists too.

None of this is close to being a criticism. After all, even the gentlest of racing games can trigger the red mists of pure rage. DeathSprint 66, though, is a little more open about pushing its players towards a state of frenzy and casual violence. Here is a future mega-sport to which the citizens of some desensitised urban dystopia tune in to watch cloned ‘jockeys’ race on foot at improbable speeds. These poor fools sprint through twisting gauntlets, where death lurks around every corner. Leave the track for a second and you’re most likely dead. Hit a laser grid or a meat-grinding pillar of spinning spikes and you definitely are. Take too long finishing a course and you promptly explode. And if you die too many times, a fate worse than oblivion awaits: you must complete the race in the Suit Of Shame, which makes you look like a BDSM crash-test dummy.