Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars (PSN) Review
Posted by Mark Salmela on 10.14.2008
Is there any meat on the bones, or does this game fall flat after the epic title?
Well, the name of the game pretty much sums everything up, so I think I’ll end the review here.
…
Ok, I don’t think I can actually justify a review score by telling people to look at the name of the game, but honestly the title does a pretty good job summing everything up *except it needs to work in ball somewhere*. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is the first self-published title by Psyonix, and it’s pretty good. I’ll get more in-depth about the game in a moment, but overall, if you can get used to the controls Battle-Cars is a pretty fun little gem.
Graphics
Battle-Cars actually uses the Unreal Engine, although one wouldn’t notice at first glance. While a lot of Unreal games sport brown, muddy textures Battle-Cars actually looks pretty good, and is very colorful. As you can tell from the pictures Battle-Cars won’t blow you away in terms of graphics, but they get the job done, especially for a downloadable title. The only real problem that I have with the graphics comes from the camera, because at times the camera will actually dip below the level *or clip through walls* which the developers obviously didn’t intend to happen. Otherwise everything in Battle-Cars looks just fine, although it won’t blow you away *and since it’s a downloadable title it doesn’t need to*.
Gameplay
Fire!
Just like a lot of other downloadable titles, Battle-Cars is all about the gameplay. Battle-Cars is basically a soccer game, except instead of people you control little cars and play inside of an arena that doesn’t have an out-of-bounds. Battle-Cars sports some very realistic physics, and I mean very realistic. You really need to be precise with your shots, because if you don’t hit the giant ball just right it is going to go off to the side where you probably didn’t intend it to. But it’s hard to be precise with your shots because the action is very fast and can get very hectic, with the opposing team usually racing towards the ball to interrupt your shots. But that’s often where the fun comes in, as actually getting a goal off of a well-timed shot is very satisfying, and is what really makes the game enjoyable.
Despite the ball having very realistic physics, your car controls quite the opposite. You have a boost meter, can do complete 180’s just by holding square and the left or right button, and can jump into the air with the X button. It’s quite interesting to have the ball handle realistically while your car has complete arcade controls, but it works really well. In fact I’d argue the game wouldn’t work without the ability to jump *double jump actually*, as the ball actually spends most of the time in the air *meaning you’re going to want to jump into the air for a proper shot*. Like I said the controls do take some getting used to, but after 3 or 4 games you’ll get the hang of it.
The single player consists of two modes, a challenge mode and a tournament mode. The tournament mode is made up of standard soccer games, while challenge mode puts gives you certain objectives that you must complete. Challenges vary from things like drifting into certain areas, blocking a number of shots, and boosting through opponents *which causes them to explode*. Multiplayer can be played either co-operatively or versus, offline or online. I will admit that there aren’t a whole lot of people playing online right now *sadly I don’t expect there to ever be a lot of people playing online*, and I’ve only managed to get in a couple of games online. So I won’t judge the game from what I’ve played online, since one game had lag while the other played just fine.
Sound
I honestly have nothing to say in terms of sound regarding Battle-Cars. There is very minimal electronica style music, and the sounds effects are average. Everything sound-wise is extremely basic, which is fine for this type of game. After all, it’s all about the gameplay.
Lasting Appeal
See, the game can be pretty awesome if you actually get the timing down.
While the single player mode is actually pretty lengthy, in my opinion the real length of the game will come in whether or not you can find a friend to play this game with you. I know this is blending into the fun factor here but I played this game cooperatively with a friend and we had a blast together. The game absolutely gelled when we used teamwork, and actually captured a pretty sick video of us using teamwork to demolish the AI. So if you can find someone to play with Battle-Cars can be a great little party game that you can come back to over and over again *the game actually supports 4 players offline*. Battle-Cars will likely be a game that you play in-between longer, full length titles *like 40 hour RPGs* to change up the pace.
Fun Factor
Pop goes the weasel!
As I said above Battle-Cars can be a tremendous amount of fun if you can find someone to play with. But even alone Battle-Cars can be a lot of fun if you can get used to the controls. It can get frustrating spending an entire game just to get one goal because you need to be so precise on your shots, but it is extremely satisfying when you finally do score a goal. The challenges in the single-player vary from annoying to mildly fun, and it’s in the tournament mode where you’ll spend all of your time *when you’re not in multiplayer*.
The 411
Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaalllll!!!
At $15 Battle-Cars is a little much. I’ve already complained numerous times about XBLA games that retail for $15, and it’s not acceptable for the PS3 to adopt this habit either. For $10 Battle-Cars would be an easy recommendation, but for $15 can be a little much. If you can get used to the controls and find someone to play with Battle-Cars can be a tremendous amount of fun, but that’s only when you get the game to play like an actual soccer game *and don’t spend 3 minutes fighting the AI to get the ball out of the corner*. Battle-Cars is a good addition to the PSN, and there isn’t anything else like it for download right now.
Graphics
6.5
For a downloadable title it is completely acceptable. Battle-Cars is colorful, although the camera can go in places it is clearly not meant to.
Gameplay
8.0
If you can get used to the controls the game is actually really good. It is also a relatively unique concept.
Sound
5.0
Completely basic and average.
Lasting Appeal
7.0
The single player is actually really long, and if you can find someone to play with you will actually get some mileage out of this game.
Fun Factor
7.5
There is a tremendous amount of satisfaction that comes from scoring a goal. Plus it can be a lot of fun when playing with a friend.
