We have all been there, standing in the theme parks looking up at the wonderous snaking rails of a rollercoaster wondering if you want to queue up and have a go, but having that anticipation of vomiting while it takes that extremely tight bend, or being covered in vomit from the other occupants, is something that pops to the front of your mind. However the adrenaline rush these rides provide are what makes us feel alive, and having G forces exerted on your body as you plummet to the ground at break-neck speed may also make you feel very close to death. Rollercoasters for some are the ultimate rush, and for others a complete nightmare, but now Frontier have brought these love them or hate them machines to our living rooms in the form of ScreamRide. With ScreamRide your breakfast will stay down but will it give you the gaming rush you hope for, or could just stall on the long climb up the first steep hill. Certainly ScreamRide looks very shallow to begin with starting out in Populous Labs, as many of you may have noticed in the demo, but give this game time and it will slowly unfold into something much larger than you ever expected.
In the main campaign of ScreamRide you have three different modes, Screamrider, Demolition Expert, and Engineer, each of which I will explain in a moment, and of course if you played the demo you would have experienced these modes first hand. Screamrider is all about the thrill of the ride as you control the car as it twists at high speeds around a predetermined track. These tracks are full of surprises from blue sections where you have to get your timing perfect in order to build up your boost capability, to track blockers that require you to lean the car to one side in order to avoid being derailed. As you unlock each new area the tracks get progressively more complex and dangerous adding in more ways to make the ride interesting. For the first few levels you will have an onscreen prompt to press that will get your boost up, but as you progress they disappear and the timing will come down to what you have learned, and recognising the sound that signifies you are coming to the end of that particular section. This mode is extremely fun especially trying to get those all important objectives on each track, which prove to be a massive challenge, even keeping the car on the track at times proves to be hard, you have to know when to boost, when to slow down and when to gain points by flying round the track on two wheels. It’s all about control in this mode and you will learn that fast.
Demolition Expert is all about smashing things up and massive building-toppling explosions. This mode can bring out the big kid in you, along with memories of stomping all over your siblings LEGO house that they have spent hours building quietly. It sounds easy enough as you use various pods to sling at buildings and other constructions, with the focus on destroying everything on the screen. However it does require some thought and mindless firing of the different pods will not always get you that 5 star rating on a level. Think of it as a big ball that will bounce off one thing and hit another and you will soon get to grips with the later more difficult levels that ScreamRide throws at you in this mode. This mode also has objectives for you to get from firing through hoops, hitting targets and causing massive amounts of damage. Each of the pods also behaves differently, one may split into three, while others give you the ability to control them in flight using aftertouch. Holding down the A button also brings up a handy line that shows you the direction your pod will travel in, while controlling the speed is also an essential trick to master if you are going to be successful.
The final mode ScreamRide has for you in the campaign section is Engineer, this mode is where you have to finish off tracks with a limited amount of pieces, while making the ride as exciting as possible. Being honest this mode was the least interesting out of the three on offer for me, but it did provide a good challenge as you try and keep all the riders onboard, while getting the specific rating requirements up for each track. While it provides a great puzzle element to ScreamRide that differs from the destruction and controlling of the rides in Screamrider, it just did not really hit it off with me personally. Now we come down to the real meat ScreamRide provides in the Level Editor and Sandbox modes, all I have to say here is wow! As you progress through the levels of the campaign you will unlock further elements to use in these modes, providing you with even more exciting pieces to use in building your own levels. You have the ability to build whatever you wish here from the ground up, with a total of 50,000 individual pieces if you are so inclined. Any level you make can be uploaded to the community for all to enjoy and rate, while you can also download and play any of their levels.
This factor makes ScreamRide a virtually new game everyday, if not every hour, with new levels being uploaded to play constantly. In fact the game has not even been released yet and the amount of content on there is staggering. You can also download blueprints to use in the building of your own levels, these will kickstart your construction and if you are somewhat impatient you will be able to have a level published in a matter of an hour. I found some of these community levels extremely well constructed and challenging, some even more so than the actual game. It never stops amazing me what people can make given the correct tools. On this side ScreamRide could be called the Trials Fusion of the rollercoaster world. I am not going to compare ScreamRide to the developers previous games as I think that would be a bit unfair, so I won’t. Graphically ScreamRide is not going to blow your socks off and it was not made to do so, simplistic fun is what this title is all about not graphical prowess. The way in which the buildings explode and shatter in Demolition Mode is fantastic, and while the camera can be awkward to get a good view sometimes it is still a joy to watch.
ScreamRide definitely fills a void in the market, while the campaign side of things may not be too long it has the community side of things supplying the endless replay factor we so crave in games today. You can spend literally days constructing the perfect level to upload for others to play and enjoy, and it gives a real sense of accomplishment to do so, watching your level getting a big star rating from the community is as much of a thrill as riding the rollercoaster for real. Is ScreamRide worth your investment? Definitely! Far too many games are a one time play these days giving us little value, for some the campaign will not impress at first but give it time to flourish and it’s a hell of a ride. Now go scream around my level on the community and don’t forget to give it a rating.
