Anybody who grew up with gaming magazines might be aware of this one. Compared to other single-player focused sci-fi racing games, this one stands out to be as being incredibly atmospheric and oppressive, especially in terms of its sound design. Extended Race mechanic is one of its best ideas, as you try to victory lap the course by beating your time over and over again until you choke, as your machine speeds up to five times its original speed as you pass each lap in mere seconds. Mastering tight turns, managing boost, and knowing how to drive "dangerously safe", are keys to beat all courses on the hardest difficulty. It's easy to pop the game for a quick round, as the controls are simple, but the driving mechanics are fun to master, even without a dedicated drift button. Each car feels extremely different to drive and adds tons of replay value.
Most versions of Space Haste 2 available today don't work fully on modern versions of Windows, despite its recent surprise release on other digital storefronts. Trance soundtrack is broken and does not play, display works funny when booting, and the game is unstable. While this might not be the biggest game of the time, it deserves to be fixed up and preserved just for for its delightful audio visual design alone! This game is a relic of the early 2000s that adult me still remembers to this day!