ScreamRide (Xbox One) - Review

ScreamRide is out now on the Xbox One and is priced at £29.99. Yeah, ouch! The price point is one of the main reasons for the slightly lower score given to this game. I feel really strongly about recommending games I feel are worth the money, and this just feels that it's been priced slightly too high, for what is essentially an arcade game. I think it is a dangerous sign of things to come on this gen that there are VERY few games that are less than £10 to download. When we consider that when Minecraft was released on the Xbox 360 at 1600MSP everyone thought that seems a little steep. Just because it hadn't been done before. If I spent 1200MSP on an arcade game I wanted it to be the best thing since sliced bread! So I always try to consider the price the game may have been on last gen before I say that the game offers value for money.

Anyway, let's get on with the review of the game. ScreamRide is fun. Billed as a 'spiritual sequel' to the amazing old PC game Rollercoaster Tycoon, I feel that in my mind at least it was almost set up for a fall. I LOVED Rollercoaster Tycoon. But I loved all the 'boring' things about it, the day to day running of the park, setting admission prices and hiring staff etc. ScreamRide is nothing like that at all. It takes all of that away and actually the only similarities between the two games are that they both contain coasters and you can build your own in a sandbox mode.

ScreamRide instead celebrates certain doom and destruction. There are three main game modes during the campaign - Scream Rider, Demolition and Engineer. Scream Rider sees you take control of a coaster on what is essentially a race track made out of roller coaster. You can use turbo, brake on the corners and lean into the bends to gain more turbo. There are blue parts of the track which sees you have to press a button at a key moment to earn more turbo too. This part of the game is really fun, but does get tired quite easily. The camera angle used is great, and it does feel like you can feel the speed that you're doing. My children watched me play this game and both squealed when we were going round a loop-the-loop or down a hill. You earn stars by completing challenges which range from getting a certain amount of points to derailing your coaster cart a certain amount of times whilst still scoring highly.

Demolition mode is like Angry Birds. You are given a set amount of carts to fire out of a revolving arm at buildings, screens, rings and trampolines. I am usually pretty awful at these types of games, and this game was no different. I struggled like mad to earn any of the commendations so I could progress. My timing is off with throwing the rem, seriously the amount of times I threw the carriage behind me rather than in front is ridiculous. Then if I did manage to shoot it the right way I still managed to miss the screens or whatever. I actually ended up getting my son to do some for me. He is that flukey kind of player that always manages to get a near perfect score when it seems like he is just throwing things haphazardly. He did really well on this game.

Engineer mode is basically a construction mode. You are given an almost complete track and told to finish it. You have to make the track reach certain lengths for the commendations and do so without losing any riders. This mode is really hard to control, or at least I found it to be so. The camera never really seems to go where you want it to go, making it difficult to place your track pieces. And my biggest problem with it is that it all feels pointless. It lacks the all out fun of being destructive for the sake of it, and it lacks the speed and finesse that the Scream Rider mode has. It just feels like it has been placed in for the sake of saying that it is like 'Rollercoaster Tycoon'. It isn't. Sandbox mode is exactly what you expect and might keep you interested for a little bit. But you will have to complete the game to unlock all the cool stuff for inside the sandbox. Without going through at least some of the story you will find it extremely difficult to enjoy sandbox mode.

Overall I feel like this game has priced itself out of the market slightly. It is polished, the graphics are nice and colourful, the music is good and it is fun but it is just too expensive! Priced around £15 and I may have been able to recommend it but for double that it feels like too much for me to say go and spend your hard earned cash on it. Wait for a sale, if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, but if you get bored easily then I'd say skip it.

4/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Wreckateer Review

Now I have to be honest, the Kinect is rarely used in my house. The three year old messes up the sensor and by the time he's in bed I just want to sit down with a controller in my hand. Wreckateer interested me though, and when I learnt it was a Kinect Arcade title it didn't put me off. This game looked like loads of fun!
Think 'Angry Birds' for Kinect and you've got the basic gist of this game, but to all the cynics who say it's a carbon copy...you are wrong.
Yes in it's most simple form you're throwing things to knock other things down. BUT Wreckateer does have more features than just aiming and hoping for the best. Firstly this game actually works really well on Kinect. I have to say I'm surprised as the last few Kinect Arcade games I've played have been pretty awful to be honest. But this game reacts how you'd expect it to react. You clasp your hands together to grab the ballista, pull back to build up the strength of your throw and then throw your arms wide to let it fly.
Then you can use aftertouch on the ball. You basically flap your hands through the ball to make it go in the direction you want. There are also special abilities which are activated by throwing both your arms in the air. Bomb Shots detonate (duh!) Split Shots split your ball into four smaller balls, whilst Speed Shots whiz off in a straight line. Lift Shots give your projectile a height boost, and can be activated three times. The best by far in my opinion though is the Flying Shot which gives your ball a motor and wings, letting you fly around the level.
As I alluded to before, this game had no problem tracking me. There was a slight problem with space, but with hindsight this was probably my fault. When asked to stand at the back of your play space DON'T, as when in play you do need to stand further back to build the power in your shots. Once I'd realised this my play space was fine. Before I had I'd been more or less climbing on the couch to power up my shots!
The game, whilst it is fun, does get tired after awhile. You are basically doing the same thing over and over. But don't play it for a long amount of time t once and you probably wouldn't notice this. I personally have been playing this with friends, the odd hour every few nights and it has remained fun.
The game does spike in difficulty. For me it was really sudden, I just suddenly found it nigh on impossible. I am somewhat coordinationally-challenged though and my friends did manage to battle through eventually.
This game also features a two-player offline mode. It's pretty much the same again, you take it in turns to knock things down. Whilst it isn't new, and doesn't mix up the formula in anyway it is nice that it has been included.
This game is fun. It doesn't push the boundaries of originality obviously but it is brilliant fun. Competitiveness rages between me and my friends to see who can get the biggest multiplier and the highest score. Arcade Kinect titles in my opinion have been pretty bad to date, this one would make a good addition to anyones lagging Kinect game collection. I know my Kinect was rarely used before and this has definitely made me more likely to dust the poor thing off. This game is definitely worth trying, and at only 800MSP in a market now saturated with 1200MSP games it ain't that dear either.

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.