Screamer Review – Old School Racing Vibes with a High Speed Twist

Screamer Review

Back in September 2025, I had the chance to audition Milestone’s Screamer. It’s a pure arcade racer and a remake, or update, or reboot of the 1995 original. I was intrigued by the story and impressed with the game’s mechanics and depth. Sometimes, preview demos highlight the best aspects of a game and hide the flaws. In this case, the demo and the finished game are totally in sync.

Soap Opera Derby

Screamer’s narrative is surprising because it’s far more interesting than the story most racers limp across the finish line with. In fact, the story is probably equal to the actual racing in terms of importance to the experience.

In the menu, the narrative is called Tournament mode. The skinny goes like this: there’s an illegal series of races held across a wide range of locations. At the end, there’s a big cash payout and even bigger bragging rights for any driver who makes it to the end. Players from all over the world compete. Some are in it for the money, others to settle old scores or earn cred in the business world. There’s even a J-pop group using the races as cover for more complex machinations.

A lot of the stories are interconnected, and the characters often speak in their native languages with subtitles. All in all, it’s pretty good storytelling, especially for a racing game. The art direction is pure anime, delivered through cut scenes and static comic panels. Generally, respectable voice acting helps sell some occasionally awkward or cheesy writing. To be honest, I bounced off the narrative in the demo. But for the full game, I gave it the chance it deserved and found it entertaining.

Back to the Track

Players can bypass the Tournament mode and head towards multiplayer or one-off races, but Milestone has made the story-focused mode the centerpiece. For one thing, it’s where the game drip-feeds the mechanics, unique cars and special abilities. This is important because Screamer doesn’t control like typical racing games.

Best described as a twin-stick racer, the left thumbstick controls the driving and the right stick is dedicated to drifting. Paired with this control system is another binary mechanic. Hit the shift button at just the right time and a meter called Sync fills up, allowing for massive speed boosts. The longer you drive in Boost mode without crashing, the more your Entropy meter fills, which allows you to pull of some devastating vehicular combat.

Managing all those mechanics is harder than it sounds. For one thing, even the slightest brush against the guardrail is enough to end a boost, even in the easiest mode. This is made even more challenging thanks to track designs that emphasize very sharp turns and relatively short straightaways. Each character in the Tournament comes with unique cars and special abilities. In theory, these should make a big difference in handling and mastery. In practice, I’m not sure the differences felt that dramatic. Of course, there’s a garage for making cosmetic changes and swapping parts earned in the races.

Being successful in Screamer definitely requires some time and overriding traditional racing game muscle memory. That’s not a complaint, just the reality of Screamer’s systems. One actual gripe is that the AI racers don’t always play fair, even in the easiest mode. I spent a lot of time replaying races to reach a respectable final spot.

System Overload

As befits the game’s anime aesthetic, the tracks, lighting, sound design and music are drenched in vibrant color and over-the-top sensory overload. Engines sound like jet-propelled beasts and audio cues for things like shifting are clear. More negatively, the music — and the tracks — tended towards repetition the longer the narrative went on. At the end of the campaign, I’d had enough and wasn’t overly anxious to immediately return to the one-off races.

When it comes to racing games, Screamer asserts that realism is overrated. It’s an adrenaline-fueled blast from the past that feels current, too. Although it can be a bit repetitive and over-exacting at times, there’s a lot of depth to Screamer’s narrative premise and racing mechanics. Screamer is definitely worth a look for racing fans a bit tired of another lap around the traditional tracks.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***