ScreamRide is a new game from the people behind RollerCoaster Tycoon. This game takes the level of that series and zooms it down to one ride at a time and expands the gameplay into several different styles. The developers are of course Frontier Developments and in addition to the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, they are also recently responsible for games like Kinectimals, Zoo Tycoon, and Elite: Dangerous. To say the least, this developer has been successful in a myriad of different genres since their inception in 1994. Now with over a decade since the last RollerCoaster Tycoon, can Frontier Development bring the excitement of rollercoasters to a new generation?
The way one learns how to play ScreamRide is through its comprehensive Career mode. In this mode, you select one of three offered game types and play through a variety of sections. As you progress through the career the game will deliver small hints to the game’s overarching fiction. ScreamRide appears to exist at a much different and futuristic time. In this universe a sadistic company called ScreamWorks subjects humans to elaborate and often-times dangerous rides. The overall feeling is quite similar to that of the computer-generated universe presented in TRON: Legacy but this one appears to exist in the real world. Fortunately, the human subjects for these rides appear to go willingly and happily. Even after getting flung into the water or until concrete, they get up and have a smile. Overall, it’s a weird but welcomed addition to the game that gives some reason behind all of this mayhem and destruction.
As hinted above, ScreamRide is broken into three different segments. The first is ScreamRider. This mode is an on-rails action game that has you controlling a rollercoaster cart through a variety of obstacles to score the most points via speed and style. The second segment is called Demolition Expert. This one isn’t hard to figure out and follows the same vein as Angry Birds with the goal of flinging objects to destroy buildings. The last is Engineer. This one is the most puzzle-like of the three and will give you a challenge and an incomplete coaster in which to complete. The career offers tons of levels in each of these categories that help teach you the game and eventually master it.
ScreamRider is a surprisingly good aspect of this game. One’s first desire in a rollercoaster game to build the ride but this mode proves it might be better to ride the ride. Within this mode, you control a rollercoaster cart around a defined coaster. This might not sound that exciting but there are a lot of elements that make it so there is never a dull moment. The basic goal is to make it around the defined number of laps by accelerating, braking, and leaning your cart. Leaning your cart onto two-wheels will score points but risk you derailing. There is a turbo meter that can be used to make you go quicker and is filled by pressing a button at a specific track segments. Over the course of the career more elements like jumps and single-rail segments will be added and keep you on your toes. I found ScreamRider to be the most polished and compelling of the offered gameplay types. It is by far the easiest to get into and rarely ever gets frustrating. Overall, it was the mode I never expected from this game and became the best, most memorable part.
The next mode is Demolition Expert. Within this mode, you toss cabins and carts are a variety of buildings and explosives to cause the most destruction. There have been several games within this genre but the most popular has to have been Angry Birds. This one diverges itself by taking it three-dimensional and adds additional elements. The first after the typical flinging is after touch. This allows you to make subtle adjustments to the trajectory of the cabin and cart after it is launched. The next elements are magnetic launch pads that allow give you to shoot the object even further or at a different angle if landed upon and jump pads that sound exactly what they seem. If you like destruction, this mode will be a lot of fun. While flinging the cabins and coasters can take some skill, especially later on, the destruction is a visual feast.
Engineer mode poses engineering challenges to the player. This mode takes the most patience and skill to master. Predefined segments will already be in place and it will be the player’s job to connect them while adhering to the goals of the level. This is easier said than done. When you are first thrown into this mode, you’ll go crazy building an intricate rollercoaster but that ambition should be saved for another mode called Sandbox. In Engineer mode you are scored upon how well you craft and how well you attain your goals. These riders can get flung out of the car and get extremely nauseous. Cars can get flung off the track. Once you accept this fact, the mode can be a lot of fun but it is a lot more involved and time consuming than the others. You’ll have to consider the cart speed and the angle of the track. While this is cool, it’s not easily known if something will work or not until you send a cart down the track. The game does a good job of telling you what parts of the track are problems but doesn’t particularly teach you how to solve those problem. Therefore you keep reiterating your design until the game likes it. Then there are building limits so if you spend too many pieces polishing the beginning of your track you can easily find yourself without enough pieces to finish at the end. Overall, the mode can be fun but it does have a decent skill wall for those who want to enjoy it to the max and even then, it can get frustrating at times.
The backbone of all these modes is Sandbox. This mode allows you to create anything and everything contained within the career mode. Progressing through the career will unlock additional pieces and blueprints in which to use here crafting whatever you desire for whichever mode you desire. Creating new content is amazingly easy. The hardest part is probably going into the different panels to select the piece of track or building you want to use but since you’re on a controller, it was always going to be a little cumbersome. The other good thing is that the restrictions that are often hit within the Engineer mode are hard to hit here. You can create a ridiculously long coaster if you don’t want to add any buildings. The other aspect of this mode is the checklist. The checklist will help guide you through all the steps to validating and publishing your new level online. This makes this the best part of this game even if you don’t like to build. The career has a fair amount of levels but they don’t go on forever. With this sharing function, the game never has to end. The career mode will be just the preamble of this game if the community gets going. I look forward to what they will make because there are already a couple good levels there.
The graphics fit the genre. The cartoon style employed is colorful and full of life. The characters are animated well and makes it so that there is always something happening on the screen. The way the characters interact with each other can be often times humorous while supporting the darker narrative. It’s interesting how each segment of the career gets a little darker and tells a little more story. Aesthetically, it feels that there is enough layering here that children and adults will enjoys the different aspects. The one aspect that will bring both of these demographics together is obviously the destructive element. The destruction of buildings are governed by physics and looks simply amazing as they crumble to the ground. Since they are bound by physics, they often fall in different and new ways. While the destruction will typically stay fresh, this can’t be said for the cutscenes between levels. You will find yourself seeing the same one over and over but luckily they can all be skipped. Overall between the cartoon-styled graphics, physics-based destruction, and the well-crafted rollercoasters, you won’t be disappointed.
When you start listening to the sound of the game, it keeps bringing up this feeling of TRON: Legacy. The music feels similar to the Daft Punk style employed in that movie. It helps bring the dark narrative of the universe together. But considering the nature of these game, there is not much more for the game to add. Riding on the rollercoasters sound great as you accelerate down a hill and bank around a tight curve. Destruction sounds as you would expect a building to crumble or explosive barrels to explode. There is some voice work which is short and unremarkable. Overall, it is probably more than one would expect but still feels lacking. Some additional music tracks would help.
When you first pick up ScreamRide, your first instinct it to want to build. You want to create the best rollercoaster ever built. This is a game from the developers that created RollerCoaster Tycoon after all. But surprisingly, it’s the action on-rails mode called ScreamRider that is by far the game’s best gem. This mode delivers the thrill and adrenaline of a real rollercoaster ride by putting obstacles in your way and tempting you with a great risk and reward play. The other modes, while not as great, are quite fun as well. Demolition Expert brings a nice natural evolution to the destruction genre. The best aspect of this is simply the destruction. Graphically it is amazing watching a building topple. Engineer mode requires the most patience and has the most difficulty to master. On one hand, it is a lot of fun to solve the puzzles and achieve the levels goals but on the other hand when it goes wrong, it can be a bit frustrating.
The one thing that binds these all together is the leaderboards. The game is crafted in such a way that replaying levels is quick and easy. I am normally not that competitive but this game drove me to improve my score and attain higher and higher placements. It’s a testament to the polish and speed that this game contains. Then layered on top of all of this is Sandbox. Sandbox is a powerful tool to create additional levels for this game and making them is quite easy. Utilizing all the pieces through the menus can be a little cumbersome but it’s probably the best that could be done with a controller. The other, grander implication of this mode is that the levels can all be published and downloaded by others. Those that don’t have the time to dedicate to making the perfect level can go online and download one built by someone else completely free. ScreamRide feels like three games in one. This game has something for you no matter if you want to build, ride, or destroy. With the Sandbox mode, the content contained in the game is just the beginning. While one of the modes feels a little lacking, ScreamRide is a surprising treat from the developers of RollerCoaster Tycoon.
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