Quick Links
Disney has thrown its hat into the ring of kart racing games withDisney Speedstorm, developed by Gameloft. Drawing from properties across Disney and Pixar, numerous characters and environments will be instantly recognizable as you race to the finish line.
RELATED:Disney Speedstorm: How To Unlock All Characters
From iconic characters to imaginative racetracks to unique abilities, there is plenty to experience in Disney Speedstorm. There are several mechanics you will need to understand to set yourself up for success and win as many races as you can. Plus, understanding the best ways to start off your racing journey will help you make the most out of the game.
Disney Speedstorm is currentlyin Early Access. Therefore, information and gameplay are subject to change.
Accessing And Starting Disney Speedstorm
While Disney Speedstorm eventually plans to go free-to-play, the game is currently in Early Access, andrequires the purchase of a Founder’s Pack to play. The different Founder’s Packs (Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate) offer different rewards, but each of them allows you toimmediately unlock at least one new racer of your choicefrom an offered group. You can choose between Baloo or Mowgli (The Jungle Book), Belle or the Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean), or Shang (Mulan).
If you know you want to play as one of these characters, this is the best time to go ahead and snag them up. This way, rather than working to unlock the character,you may already start working on leveling up the character while playing.
Disney Speedstorm supports both cross-play and cross-progression. Creating and then linking your profile to a Gameloft ID will allow you to play across different platforms, which will likely be ideal once the game goes free-to-play. you’re able to share your player ID to add friends and play with them online.
In-Game Currencies
There are a few different in-game currencies you will be able to earn while playing, each that can be used for items in the shop or for the game’s version of lootboxes.Tokensare the base in-game currency.Season Tokensare tokens earned from playing during each season, but expire once it is over.Multiplayer Coinsare earned by playing ranked modes against other players.
You’ll earn a bunch of tokens from playing the early parts of the game, so it’s better to hold onto your tokens until you have a grasp on the type of cosmetics or materials you will want the most.You could run out of these tokens pretty fast without thinking. As you progress through the game and unlock more characters, you end up getting more offerings in the shop, too.
Understanding The Different Racer Classes
All the characters, or racers, in Disney Speedstorm belong to one of four classes that affect their playstyles.The four Racer Classes are Brawlers, Defenders, Speedsters, and Tricksters. Class affects a racer’s top stats, what kind of bonus you get for dashing into an opponent, and how you can get extra charge for the manual speed boost your racer can use.
While no class is necessarily better than the other, the best thing to do ispick a racer to focus your time and resources into, and then learn the playstyle around the racer’s class.
Acceleration / Combat
Gain a shield after hitting another racer.
Gain extra manual boost charge from being in slipstreams with another racer.
Gain extra manual boost charge for successfully drifting.
Understanding Each Game Mode
Disney Speedstorm offers the chance to play in numerous different game modes, and each of them can be useful.The current modes are the Starter Circuit, Season Tour, Ranked Multiplayer, Regulated Multiplayer, Limited Events, Local Freeplay, and Private Track.
The Starter Circuit is what you should attempt to play through right off the bat, and fully completing it should be your primary focus. This is the way to learn the controls for the game, practice the mechanics of racing, and unlock additional game modes and racers. Across the different modes,races usually have three Race Goals for you to accomplish, such as drifting for a certain amount of time, or placing within the top two of a race. Do all three, and you’re able to earn rewards efficiently, without having to go back and re-do the race for a missed objective.
How To Drift And Speed Boost
Drifting is one of the most important mechanics to master to help you win races. Holding the dedicated drift button allows you start drifting, and you have a good amount of control over how tight or loose you make your curve.Drifting in a more loose, or wider, curve will let you keep your speedaround bends in a racetrack. After successfully drifting for a certain amount of time, the wheels on your kart start to glow, and you’re able to release the drift button for an additional speed boost.
You don’t want to drift too drastically, becauseyou’ll start to lose speed.
There are multiple other ways to get speed boosts during a race, too.Speed padsare glowing blue tiles around the track you should always try and run over.Slipstreamsare dark blue rails that you may hop up on to ride forward, but be cautious about crashing into other players riding on the same one. You also have amanual boostbar that fills up over time, and by doing certain actions successfully.
Don’t hold on to your manual boost!It can be easy to forget about a filled up manual boost bar when there is a lot happening on screen, but the worst way to utilize your boost is by not using it at all. Use your manual boost to speed back up after being stunned, or when there isn’t another possible source of speed in sight.
How to Get a Headstart
You can get an edge on the competition by getting a good speed boost at the beginning of a race. There will be a speed odometer icon on the screen during the countdown, with shades of green to designate the correct starting acceleration you will need. If youaccelerate and then rev your engine in the necessary range, you can time it right to gain a headstart in the race.
Learn Each Racetrack Well
Practice makes perfect, and that is true for learning the different racetracks in the game. It will become easier to know the best routes to go or when you should prepare to drift around curves once you are more familiar with each track.Utilize Local Freeplay if you want to try going around a track without worrying about winning a race.
How to Use Normal and Charged Skills
There are different skills and power-ups to use throughout a race. Theracers themselves also each have a unique skill. Learning what each racer can do is the key to not only using your own skills to the best of your ability, but also knowing how you’re able to avoid an enemy player’s skills.You can go into the skill menu for a racer and read up on the skills they can use, plus what the normal skill does versus the charged version.There are some skills that can even be thrown backwards!
When you are able to use a skill in a race, pressing the skill button will let you use the normal version of a skill. However, if you hold down the skill button, you can charge up and release a different version of it.Whether to use a normal skill or a charged skill can be the difference between securing a win or wasting a skill entirely.For the skills that can be directed backwards, press the skill button while also pressing your backwards directional input (such as down on the thumbsticks).
For example,the normal Fire skill surrounds your race kart in flames, and will damage anyone you come into contact with. This could be great to use when you’re speeding up and able to rear-end someone in front of you.
The charged version of Fire instead lets out a huge blast around you, which is perfect if you find yourself surrounded or close to a group.The backwards version of Fire shoots out flames behind you from each of your wheels, and could stop other racers from catching up on you. Now you can see how even just one skill can be useful in multiple different situations!
