Seven months ago, Enjoy Up enjoyed their release of their first title for the Xbox One, Rock N Racing off Road DX, this week they have launched their next title for the Xbox one, that follows the same sort of characteristics of their first title, and a very similar title too, GP Rock N Racing! Is it a game though that would make me want to play again and again? Or it a game that will crash out at the first bend of the race? Well, after 10 minutes of playing it, I feared it was going to be the latter. And 3 hours in, that was confirmed.
Upon starting the game, you are taken into a arcadic style menu, where you have the option to run time trials and championships. I decided to take the championship route first, and threw myself straight into the first championship you can have a crack at, and that`s in the grand United States of America. You`re thrown into the track, with from a similar point of view for those who have played off road DX, from above, and from a helicopter POV where you`re tracking your car from the sky. Not so birds-eye like DX off road, but it offers something a bit different to the average racers where you`re racing in the first person. But, none the less, it offers something a lot different.
The commentator is warmed up, and you hear the words, go, go, go, and they`re off. You`re coming up to the first bend and the commentator is going crazy. “That was amazing” you`ll hear. Get use to hearing that quite a lot, because you`re going to hear it hundreds and hundreds of times. But, you`re on the straight. You`ve got 19 other cars behind you, and that`s when it starts to go very, very wrong.
Let me warn you about one thing you`ll find playing through this game. You are going to test your skills and nerve to hold out and to even make it to the end of the race without raging, as this game has to be one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. Why? Because the AI within this game, are absolutely diabolical. They have no sense of being able to drive within the environment, and as soon as you are taken out, that`s your race finished. You won`t find yourself getting back in the lead and back with the rest of the pack. Once you`ve been taken out, you have to find the strength and ability to not quit out and carry on with the race. It`s something that is truly testing of you, and something that you`ll find yourself losing the will and wanting to shut the game off after 15 minutes or so of playing. The ability to not rage and controller rage will be truly tested within this game, and it`s something that I truly strongly advise to you. If you`re someone that loses their rage very quickly and will also get to a high level of frustration very quickly, then this game isn’t for you. You could be driving on a straight and on the road to victory, only to be taken out by the AI and throw you into the wall barriers. At times, it feels like the game is truly un-playable, and I think the AI is what ruins the game massively. I wouldn’t mind it so much if you could get back into the race, but it`s the fact that it feels like an eternity to get back into gear and get to the speed you were at before. It feels like there is a restriction on how quickly you can get your car from 0-80mph.
I feel quite disappointed by the game in all honesty. Rock N Racing off road DX, okay it wasn’t a great title, but at least it felt playable and you weren’t taken out at every opportunity by awful AI. GP Rock N Racing is probably one of the worse and frustrating games I have ever played, on both the Xbox One and 360, and is one that if you want your controller to survive, and for your frustration levels to not reach an all-time high, I would truly stay away from this and invest your time and money into something else, in my opinion, at least playable.
A huge thank you to EnjoyUp for supplying us with a Review code of GP Rock N Racing.
