Are you looking for a new game to enjoy at your next party? Need something to distract you from the Superbowl or have a good laugh with friends? Well if you answer yes to either of these questions then you are in luck because we might just have the game for you. Last year at PAX West, Daedalic Entertainment showed us an upcoming game from SplitSide Games that should liven up any party; that game was called Fling to the Finish, a cooperative racing game. But what makes Fling to the Finish a fun party game? Find out in our Fling to the Finish review.

Game: Fling to the Finish
Developer: SplitSide Games
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Platforms: PC (Steam) (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch (Coming Soon)
Release Date: January 18th, 2024
Players: 1 to 8
Price: Base: $19.99 USD

Single Player vs Multiplayer

So what makes Fling to the Finish different than other cooperative racing games? First off you get to decide if you want to play the game solo or with other players. If you decide to go solo, then you are in charge of both balls. In a way, controlling both balls is easier than working with others to achieve your goals; if you are looking to speed run levels in the game, then going solo is the better option. The controls on PC do take a bit to get used to so we advise using a controller in order to play.

Racing

If you are looking to play with friends and have a good laugh, then playing multiplayer is the better choice. You can play Fling to the Finish either online or with local players; the only problem is it is hard to find a match without going to their Discord. The game offers two primary options, Racing and Campaign. The Racing mode allows players to race up to 3 other teams in a variety of levels. You will need to work with your partner in order to clear the course as fast as possible. Don’t worry, if you are falling behind the game will provide power-ups to help get you back in the race.

Campaign

If you don’t feel like racing or sabotaging your friends, you can head over to the campaign. The campaign allows only two players to work together to achieve their goals. When you first enter the campaign, you must complete the tutorial and complete all the Fling’Damentals levels before unlocking the other game modes. Once you have completed all the Fling’Damentals levels, you will have access to Ring-A-Thon and Coin Frenzy; if you can manage to get 3 ducks on each of these game modes, you will unlock Duck Hunt and UFO Race. After perfecting those, you will unlock Bomb Run. The final level called Credits Crawl can only be unlocked once you have earned 100 ducks.

Once you have gotten your fill of the campaign, you can go to the unlockables table to unlock new characters, banners, and logos. With each coin, you get to choose between one of three options. Thankfully, the options that you do not choose don’t go immediately back to the top of the poll.

Impressive Level Design but Bad Accessibility

Fling to the Finish features a variety of level designs ranging from a children’s playground all the way to outer space; each of these levels has its own unique feel and has fun gameplay elements that make them unique. A word of caution, if you are sensitive to strobing lights, it would be a good idea to avoid playing this game or at least certain levels. Each level has a theme that utilizes specific colors and on vibrant levels, it can be overpowering. Despite the overpowering nature, the game does not feature a setting to reduce the visual effects without lowering the overall quality.

While playing through the levels, we only noticed one major issue. On one level, an elevator is supposed to come up and get you to the next point in the level. Sadly, there seems to be a bug that causes the elevator not to spawn. Dedicated players can overcome this by swinging up the back wall and aiming for a hole at the top. If you choose to not do this, then you will be locked out of the other game modes.

Verdict

While Fling to the Finish may be a fun game to play at parties or with friends, its lack of an online community outside of Discord holds it back. If you don’t have many friends, it will be difficult to truly enjoy the game. The level bug late into the campaign can also cause players to lose interest in the game and not want to keep playing. If you can get past those issues, then you can have a great time playing it with a friend or against other players.

The game is currently in Early Access on Steam and is currently planned to come to the Nintendo Switch; however, we think that it would be better for the developers to focus on polishing the game and creating more accessibility options. The level and sound design are spectacular each with its own unique feel. The only audio issue we had was the game’s race start timer being incredibly loud compared to the rest of the level; in fact, it can be rather startling.

If SplitSide games can work out the bugs and add more accessibility options then Fling to the Finish could become a trending streaming game to play with friends or community members. At the moment, the game could use a bit more polish before that but is still a rather solid game.

Fling to the Finish was reviewed on PC (Steam) using a copy provided by Daedalic Entertainment. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Fling to the Finish is now available through Early Access on Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch is coming soon.