Slipstream 5000

Really fun but Ancient Dos game, i'm old enough to remember playing this in my teens and its still playable, just dont expect too much from the graphics and you'll have fun with this.

good quality and the idea is quite novel at that time.

It's like if WipEout and Descent had a baby... and it actually predates WipEout by a few months. This is a combat racing game for MS-DOS, wherein you fly anti-gravity-assisted aircraft (at least according to the included PDF manual).

And thanks to DOSBox... XInput gamepads are supported. Mostly... you'll still need a mouse and keyboard to pause the game and navigate menus.

Also, avoid going under the bridge on the London circuit, try to go over it instead. Every time I've gone under it, the game would crash.

I really hope that some day, there will be an engine port of this.

Slipstream 5000 is an ancient game from 1995. It's a whopping 29 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge, or just a cash grab to try profit from abandonware.

This is a simple 3D rendered racing game with futuristic jet cars for the vehicles. There's a little combat as well. For the time the graphics would have been considered okay but this is incredibly dated now. I guess the best thing that can be said about this is at least it "works", but it's got a long list of what should be considered defects from such an old game.

This game is so old it runs in DOSBOX and doesn't take advantage of hardware acceleration. It has a dated control scheme, dated graphics, and runs poorly due to the DOSBOX emulation. While DOSBOX is a fine tool for those seeking retro gaming, it's not really appropriate for ancient abandonware like this to be dumped on Steam without any modernisation, this is just a greedy cash grab from developers trying to get your money for dead software, they want to pay them a second time for a game you probably already owned.

There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.

The game only displays in 4:3 pillarboxed aspect ratio, due to the age of the game, it predates the 16:9 widescreen gaming standard established back in 2006. It's possible they're marketing this towards people using an old CRT they found in a dumpster, or this game is being specifically marketed towards people gaming on PC's from 1995... either way, this isn't really acceptable in the modern era of PC gaming. It's obviously not going to look right on a modern 16:9 gaming display.

The controls can't be customised, which will be an annoyance for many, but it can also render the game unplayable for differently-abled gamers, left handed gamers or gamers using AZERTY or other international keyboard layouts.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a very healthy spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, around the same time that trading cards were applied to the game... so this is just card idlers getting their cards and moving on. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with no merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards.

Slipstream 5000 is relatively expensive for an abandonware nostalgia gouge, at $3 USD, and it's not worth it. The game is just too old, hasn't been modernised. And as the old saying goes, you can't go home again. This is also competing with over 9,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.

As a kid I felt the hype of this game, it had awesome artwork with futuristic racing and I was stoked to play it. Years later I eventually found a big box copy in a store but at that point it was way to old and overpriced, Wipeout 2097 would have been a much better deal. Having played Slipstream 5000 now, I think a demo would have been enough. There are many other good air simulators and racing games from this era I would rather play.

A good niche game. Despite it really showing its age, the game has an extremely great presentation that's worth sitting through during gameplay. The game is extremely forgiving for a 3D futuristic combat racing game. You could tell the developers at the time, really had love and passion making the tracks and personalities for the crafts, in this game. Your selected craft can take so many hits, despite how long races can get. There's pits stop on the track, represented by the blue/navy signage with bolt symbols on them which are easy to access but the exits are a bit longer then the other sections on the track. Some pick ups which helps to get used too. The game isn't just showing its age. It would be nice if there was a higher resolution. You could also unknowingly skip sections after races if you hit the Enter key for so long. I missed the save game button because of this, could clicking on the screen, only helps.

One of the first games I ever played. So excited to find this in the store! Oh Man! The nostalgia and feels! Still one of the best games ever!

A racing flight game from the mid-nineties that runs in dosbox with some intriguing graphical glitches on the intro logos. To be honest, that description just about sums up this experience - it's clunky and unwieldy, reminiscent of Stunt Island with the clumsy (and yet somewhat slow) flight mechanics and of the opening to Rebel Assault with the gratuitous walls in the way.

To be clear, for 1995, this game looks quite incredible, and on any modern PC will run fantastic, although i'm sure that when it was released, it was punishing for anything except a pentium (especially with the rear-view mirror enabled!). Music although quite repetitive is not terrible, and the various speech effects are impressive for the time. The problem is that if you want a racing flight game in the second decade of the 21st century, there's many better options, and frankly you can have more fun with just about any of them.

That said, at the time of writing, the game is on sale for 67 Canadian cents (about 50 cents USD). At this price, if you have a gamepad, and a potential player to sit with you, then you really cannot argue with it, just don't expect to spend a lot of time here. At the normal price of $3.50 CAD, it's a harder sell.

Revisiting this gem of a classic! Wow.. Had it as a big box back in the day. It still feels fun also, or maybe that's the nostalgia goggles. :D

Perfectly playable in 2021 by using the sole keyboard. Forget about the mouse control as the lack of any stabilizer to the view forces to constantly compensate. I personally bound the keys to an arcade stick with great results.

Some quotes from the game:

- "Loom fol two mole?!"

- "No crisis for the ISIS!"

I was very pleasantly surprised by this hidden gem. the controls are kinda bad if you don't use a controller, but Otherwise the concept and gameplay are great

I was feeling nostalgic when I got this and I dont regret it all.
Graphics are of course dated from a game released in 1995.
Choose your ... vehicle ? and race, its that simple.
Each racer has their strengths and weaknesses from being fast but not agile or just being able to hits walls at speed with more frequency there is something for every race style.
As always highy recommends this old gem .... when its on sale.

works perfectly under W10 with Steam controller. actually for a 95' game, it's pretty awesome. never played Wipeout myself, but looks like an ancestor of it. great game! and thanks to the devs, and the editor for publishing vintage gaming

not good, not bad. only buy if it is on sale

★★★☆☆

It's like a combination of Descent and Mario Kart. As far as I know, I've never even heard of this game until its Steam release. It's an obscure treasure and worth a try, or two, or three, or a couple million.

It's pretty good.

One of my favorite games as a kid. Still pretty fun today. Has splitscreen 2 player. Lots of choices in jets (though there is no difference in how they perform). Upgrades can be purchased to make your ship faster and more deadly. I would compare this to Pod Racing in that it's a very unique racing game that works so well.

100% nostalgia. I still have the original 5x installation floppy disks somewhere.... Great game for those of us who remember DOS.

great game from my childhood and brought back lots of memories and laughs. if super graphics is what you're after don't bother.... but if you had this game as a kid and love the 90's feel then jump into it and feel those old school feels. It still rocks!!

Good game for those looking a more unique racing experience and not bothered by primitive 3D graphics.

Slipstream 5000 is a futuristic flight and combat racing game by Gremlin Interactive.

This game is a child of the 90s, from times when future was not all apocalypse and racing games dared to have other vehicles than automobiles.

The sounds of the planes, the craft and course design, radio chatter between competitors and the pre-race TV hosts introducing the upcoming track are few of the highlights which really make this futuristic world believable.

The game is challenging and the controls are really tight PROVIDED you're using a joystick or even analog gamepad. This game NEEDS analog controls. Period.

One negative is the low in-game resolution which makes it hard to judge turns at distance and you to rely on track memorization. While the graphics are mostly OK and at times quite good for a 3D DOS game, there is no option to increase resolution past 320x200. Play it in 14" CRT telly and it'll be much better.

It would be nice for DosBox to exit itself though. Not a dealbreaker but some people might find this confusing when quitting the game.

It runs on DOS BOX, controls are terrible as typical back in those days. The concept of the game is something i typically enjoy in a racer but this game is way past its days. Exiting to DOS i was met with the command line LOL. Some folks may find this enjoyable especially if you crave old school, but $5.99 normal price tag is asking to much.

Super old game here, so you can't really judge the graphics but for 20 years ago it's pretty good! For primitive 3D graphics, it is impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpf_cYnK0Bw

I just tried it out and everything works as you would imagine. I was able to use an Xbox 360 controller right out of the box, and the split-screen works fine as well. Even has networking modes which you may be able to get working at some point, essentially the game is untouched as it was released in 1995. Was able to use keyboard or mouse controls as well and there was no issues there, the learning curve is quite easy on this one.

All sorts of various gameplay modes and upgrades are available. If you look at the screenshots and like what you see, then the game will not disappoint you, but only recommended for those looking for the retro PC gaming experience.