ScreamRide Review: Mileage May Vary

ScreamRide

Developer: Frontier Developments

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Available for: Xbox One (version reviewed), Xbox 360

MSRP: $39.99 (Xbox One), $29.99 (Xbox 360)

Release Dates: March 3, 2015 (North and South America)/March 5, 2015 (Asia/Pacific)/March 6, 2015 (Europe)

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ScreamRide puts players through the paces as they test out insane roller coasters, cause massive destruction by launching them in “cabins” into explosive laced edifices, and engineer their own creations while trying to meet challenges and criteria. Whimsical in its presentation, it’s deceptively challenging and fun at times, but also suffers from technical issues and design decisions that prove to be more difficult to overcome than the actual gameplay itself.

Playing ScreamRide offers those up to the challenge two options right from the start screen, Career and Sandbox. Choosing career brought me to a world map where the fictional corporation ScreamWorks has set up shop to create and test thrill rides on hapless volunteers known as Screamriders. There are 6 areas, with each respective area unlocked by completing challenges in any one of the three career paths; Screamrider, Demolition Expert and Engineer. Screamriders and Demotion Experts basically test pre-constructed amusements with a list of challenges that must be completed in order to unlock new pieces for the Engineer mode. The more challenges you complete, the more pieces you unlock.

For the Screamrider career path, it’s basically riding these constructs of speed and nausea while hitting goal milestones laid out prior to launching. These can include something as simple as a minimum score, or completing tricks like riding on two wheels an X number of times while also meeting a minimum score. Scoring is accomplished through various means, be it riding on two wheels, airtime bonuses, timing turbo consumption just right, completion time, etc. Combining all of the elements available to you on the track will get you a higher score, but you also run the risk of derailing and depending on the preset list of challenges, that may or may not be something you want to do.

In Demolition Expert, players are launched in a “cabin” onto a map filled with collapsible edifices and obstacles, trying to cause as much destruction as possible before you run out of cabins. As you progress through the career mode, new levels offer more cabin options, each either their own set of strength and weakness. There are five in total – the Ball Cabin, Fragmentation Cabin, After Touch Cabin, Bounce Cabin and Sticky Bomb Cabin. Using the cabin best suited for destruction requires trial and error, as do most of the challenges in career mode. However, finding that right one, getting a good launch and watching buildings collapse and explode is pretty entertaining.

My enjoyment and success in the Engineer path was wholly dependent on how well you do in the previous paths, and how much you can tolerate a terrible camera system (hint – for me, not much) Without the proper pieces, your creations won’t be very exciting so it will require you to keep chipping away at the challenges in Screamrider and Demolition Expert until you have enough pieces to make Engineer worthwhile.

All the pieces in the world can’t make up for the terrible camera that permeates all of the modes, however. Never having full control while launching in demolition will cause a lot of do overs, and in Engineer mode, the camera will get caught up or behind buildings and obstacles where my view was either obstructed or severely limited. Being able to switch to the on track camera helped a bit, but only so much because I couldn’t really see where I was going, and zooming out kept me tethered to the piece so I couldn’t quite get a grasp on where I was placing my next piece. It’s not broken by any means and I was able to wrestle through it, but it kept me from fully enjoying myself.

The same thing can be said about Demolition Expert. The camera stays behind the piece so navigation on later levels, in which being able to see where I was headed became more and more of a necessity, and the game asks quite a bit to complete the challenges. As such, there is quite a bit of trial and error involved, which is something I personally am not a fan of, especially when there are so many other variables involved. Once I had my fill of the career mode, there really isn’t much to pull me back to it. Leaderboards don’t spark much in me so high score chasing isn’t my bag.

Sandbox fares much better, and if you’re someone into creating wild rides, you’ll find a lot here to enjoy. With all of the pieces at your disposal, you can make whatever you can think of within the confines of the robust set pieces. There are almost too many options, so go nuts and make something insane.

Once you’re satisfied with your creation you can upload your ScreamRide via the Level Center. You can set challenges similar to the Screamriders and Demolition level challenges, as well as download and play user created content. I found some pretty interesting and challenging levels, and that’s before it’s even gotten into the hands of the general public. Provided you enjoy the overall package enough, you may be able to play Screamride for quite some time to come.

Graphically, while not a stunner, ScreamRide does have a pleasing look. Character animations definitely evoke a Pixar look and feel, but they don’t really provide much in the way of personality. Sure, they have their surprisingly-enthusiastic-to-be-thrown-from-a-roller-coaster quirk, but there is nothing unique enough going on with them so they eventually became part of the scenery. The overall aesthetic of the game is very sterile and, yet colorful, kind of like Mirror’s Edge. The building destruction is pleasant enough, and the physics and effects are surprisingly good, but I never got a visceral thrill from the destruction I caused. The novelty of destroying things and hurling the riders to their non-death wore off pretty fast.

The sound design serves its purpose on and off the track. With no remarkable music to speak of, the announcer gives off a GLaDOS of Portal type vibe, but is never nearly as clever or funny, merely adequate. In fact, all of the sound is adequate. It serves its purpose but nothing truly stands out as anything but.

ScreamRide does some things really well; sense of speed, the thrill of getting a perfect run, causing a chain explosion and watching things collapse in spectacular fashion, and provides potentially tons of content thanks to the Level Center. For players that don’t mind trial and error and high score chasing, it will provide plenty of hours of good, wholesome fun. Those into creating content can absolutely lose hours getting their rides perfect, and in Sandbox mode, it works as advertised and can be a lot of fun seeing your ride and map come together. To those interested, I recommend getting through Engineer mode to see what causes what in terms of point bonuses, and move on. If you can tolerate the camera, you’re a better person than me. For what it is, ScreamRide offers fun and enjoyment for sure, however, your mileage may vary.

The copy of ScreamRide was provided my Microsoft Studios for review purposes