Reviewed on Xbox One
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March 2, 2015
Using the thumbstick to tilt the wrong way as my roller coaster approached a tight turn, I launched a car containing four shrieking test riders into the base of a nearby building. It only grazed the corner, and for a moment I was disappointed. Seconds later a car went up in flames, causing hidden explosives to detonate and demolish not one, but three buildings, which crumbled spectacularly. In Screamride, I flung, flipped, and exploded ride testers in the name of science, built roller coasters of doom, and defied gravity while speeding through twisting coaster tracks – and I had a ton of fun doing it.
Screamride doesn’t have a prominent story in its career mode, beyond some background radio chatter that explain tidbits about its world. This is a testing facility, so you’ll jump straight into the action of riding, destroying, and building roller coasters with none of the park management of something like Rollercoaster Tycoon.
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Each job – ScreamRider, Demolition Expert, and Engineer – has a distinct tone and atmosphere, and each can be played as much or as little as you please. If, for instance, I want to get my adrenaline pumping and test my reaction skills, I’d boot up a ScreamRider level. Combining time trials and obstacles, such as tracks where one rail drops out so you have to control your speed and tilt your car to keep your passengers from falling to their doom, this mode is a challenging and fun action roller coaster simulation. Often times gravity won, but that was no problem as my cart was equipped with explosives or a rocket booster, so when I inevitably knocked the cart off the rails, I’d do my best to launch my riders into one of the surrounding buildings for some fun destruction – I might not get a high score, but I’ll take that consolation prize.
While getting back on the track or restarting the entire level was just a button press away, I noticed this transition has some frame rate issues in the larger levels, or when there was a massive amount of destruction. It wasn’t terrible, but it did pull me out of my adrenaline rush.
Those performance woes are odd, because Demolition Expert mode doesn’t share them, and it’s much more about breaking things for entertainment. Using small coaster cars and two-person cabins, I flung ride testers into explosives, magnets, and other objects to help me do the most damage possible. The quality of the physics of each building tumbling down or exploding is impressive – instead of disappearing into the nether, a structure’s rubble piles up beautifully and can even pose as another obstacle. Explosions are especially satisfying to watch, as they usually cause a massive chain reaction. It was fun to just chuck the cars at buildings randomly, but Demolition Expert was even better when I finally figured out the cadence of each level.
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Trampolines scattered in the water taunted me to hit them in a perfect order. Then I’d see flashing red explosives in a building not too far off that I could hit with the long-distance car. There’s an unexpected amount of strategy required to get the biggest explosions – and thus the highest scores – and it was incredibly satisfying when I finally set off a chain reaction. Screamride allows for some flexibility, though, so you could fling cars without planning and still be able to pass the level.
With Engineer mode, I was given all the right tools to create my own awesome rides and death traps alike. Engineer is very similar to the Sandbox mode, but here there are restrictions in place that challenge your ability to manage resources. Some levels require you to connect several track pieces together while maintaining a high speed. Others would fail you lose any riders – yeah, if your G-Force is too intense, riders will fly out of their cart. I like how it doesn’t make you guess where you mess up, giving helpful hints by marking your trouble spots and where you hit achievements like high speeds.
Constructing roller coasters in Engineer mode is a nice break from the chaos of the other two jobs; the music is relaxing, and the controls are simple yet complex enough to build intricate coasters. There are quite a few special loops, twists, reverse turns, jumps, and other special pieces that award extra points when used. For example, there’s an ejection piece that launches a few riders out of their seats which is useful if you’re trying to damage buildings or hit explosives.
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Originally written and published by Miranda Sanchez at IGN Entertainment Articles. Click here to read the original story.
