Our good friend Dave Green from Low Fat Gaming , has been sharing his thoughts about new roller coaster construction simulator and puzzle game- Screamride. Check out his review below.
Screamride is a bit of a gem. A rough gem, but a gem none-the-less. Developed by Frontier (fast-friends of Microsoft’s, with Zoo Tycoon already under their Xbox One belt and Elite: Dangerous on the way), Screamride is the first of Microsoft’s three-pronged digital volley of Ori and the Blind Forest and State of Decay: SuperDooper Edition. It’s safe to say the latter titles are the ones people are looking forward to the most, and are likely to be of a higher quality when the dust settles and Metacritic has had its say.
HOWEVER – Screamride may surprise more than a few with its focus on creativity and fun, boasting robust creation AND destruction tools and a high level of polish. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde kind of game but, by juxtaposing gamers talents for building and their glee in destroying, Frontier show they have a handle on giving us a sandbox and, crucially, the tools to wreak havoc and have a bit of fun whilst doing it.
It’s a game of four parts: rollercoaster racing, where you simply control different types of carts across increasingly bizarre and gravity defying pre-built coasters; destruction mode, similar to Burnout’s classic crash mode, where-in your inner talent to destroy as many buildings is unleashed by flinging people cased in vehicles with wanton abandon; build-mode, where you’re given almost finished coasters and given guidelines to finish them and sandbox mode; the real meat of the game, be as creative as you want and build the rollercoaster of your dreams that will give others nightmares.
You can dive into the sandbox on entry, but completing the career-mode (consisting of various stages of race, destruction and build) unlock more options for you to play around with and giving you a bigger range to show off – if you want to be the Brunel of rollercoaster building, you’re going to want to see what the career has to offer you. Career isn’t to be sniffed at either, it’s fun. While you’re mileage may vary with the racing mode, which can become repetitive though increasingly challenging to keep your cart on the tracks and hit a best-score, the destruction mode is cathartic and addictive fun. You’ll do well on a level and want to reply straight away, determined to earn an extra commendation (for blowing more stuff up, basically) and beat a friend’s score. It’s impressive stuff too, creating chain reaction that are visually engaging due to Frontiers excellent physics engine – the way the buildings crumble and fall is what Upload was made for.
The third part of career, build can be a little dry and frustrating due to its hand-holding nature and restrictions, but it’s important to play to get to grips with the wide-range of tools at your disposal in sandbox. It’s basically an extended, playable tutorial and fun tutorials are tricky to pull off. Frontier just about do it here, by virtue of its trial and error nature and seeing what mayhem you create when your building experiments go wrong. And they will.
Eventually, you’ll dive into the sandbox mode which, if you’ve played Frontier’s excellent Rollercoaster Tycoon series, you won’t be surprised to find you’ve got all the tools, flexibility, training and (if you’ve done enough of the campaign) options to really go to town. Or theme park. Your imagination and ambition is literally the only cap to what you can create here and I can see a real community building around this due to the ability to share what you’ve created. The trick isn’t to just create a death-defying coaster – it’s to create a death-defying coaster that you’ll be able to ride from start to finish.
Technically, Screamride is strong with an excellent, smart control layout and smooth framerate and the solid, non-flashy graphics we’ve come to expect from Frontier. The camera can frustrate at times, especially in destruction-mode when you’re chasing after the harder to obtain, context-specific medals but it isn’t anywhere close to game spoiling. Presentation throughout is on message with the quasi-futuristic feel, and your Glados-like instructor raises a few smiles throughout.
Screamride then is another testament to Microsoft’s ambitions to offer a solid and diverse physical and digital line-up for Xbox One. It’s a solid, enjoyable sim that’s different to anything else on the console and, at £34.99, has enough variation, longevity and, most importantly, quality to justify the entry price.
Dave Green @DavidpGreen83
Dave was a community contributor to ICXM, writing 1 article in 2015 covering game reviews. ICXM operated as an independent Xbox and Windows gaming outlet through the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming, drawing from a rotating bench of editorial volunteers. They post on X as @DavidpGreen83.