Off Road Drive Review

Off Road Drive just simply is not a good game, no matter how hard it tries.

True to its word, Off Road Drive gives players a chance to drive with a generally accurate level of vehicle physics – which ultimately makes the handling of the vehicles a much harder-than-it-should-be process.

Being an off road game, you expect to be thrown into some pretty gritty terrain with all sorts of objects and nastiness placed conveniently in your way, however actually attempting to escape the awkward positions you will inevitably find yourself stuck in gets rather frustrating.

You’ll find yourself toggling your vehicle’s four-wheeling features on and off, switching camera angles and you have absolutely NO chance if you haven’t come to grips with the on-board air compressor (that allows you to temporarily deflate then re-inflate your tires) nor the winch that allows you to drag yourself from the stickiest of messes – all of this frustrating enough, so that when you finally DO manage to free yourself and you get back on the course at a snail’s pace, the fun of the game is gone.

The sound of the game doesn’t improve things in the slightest. There is no distinguishable hum between vehicles, so whether you are driving a truck or SUV the engine will sound exactly the same as the other vehicles in game. If you crash into a rock, you’ll hear the same “ping” that you’d hear if your vehicle smashed full force into a bush hiding a pile of dirt and there is definitely no “crunch” when you manage to wrap yourself around a tree slap bang in the middle of your course.

Probably the most annoying part of the whole game, is that Off Road Drive could have been redeemed in terms of gameplay – but yet again, this game fails to grab opportunity and leaves players with a single-player mode that is both boring and repetitive. You are pitted against non-existent players that even when you mess up so badly that the vehicles in front of you should have passed you at least twice already, fail to show. The multi-player is no better – you are of course limited to what you can find on the game’s server, which unfortunately for this title is very little, being that it is a niche game.

The only positive point that I have to make about Off Road Drive is that graphically, the game is amazing. The environments are beautifully rendered, from the trees waving about in the breeze to the near perfect reflections of the water – even the chunks of mud flinging off the wheels of your SUV, speaking of which, the vehicle detail is pretty impressive too. With their detailed paint jobs, fully animated drivers and working suspension, it really is a sight for sore eyes, unfortunately though, a pretty looking game isn’t enough to make it enjoyable to play.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.