Farewell calves, cows, pigs, brood! Yes, Frontier Developments is ditching the fantastic animal world of Kinectimals and Zoo Tycoon to return to its first love: roller coasters. It must be said that since Thrillville in 2007, the studio had not started building a Roller Coaster-like. An error now corrected with the arrival of Screamride, except that here we are dealing with an atypical game where you will create, test and even demolish your roller coasters! No longer a question of managing an amusement park, from its number of visitors to the safety of its rides, in Screamride, you will have to monitor other criteria such as the chrono, the number of damage, the howls or the nausea depending of the game mode chosen in the "Career" mode. Screamride is divided into 3 stages: pilot, demolitions expert and engineer.
CROWD BREAD
The first mode consists of indulging in the joys of roller coasters in a kind of racing game where you will have to manage acceleration, braking but also the forces of inertia to avoid unhooking the wagon at the slightest turn. And for even more challenges, the developers have sprinkled the plots with traps to dodge by tipping the wagon on two wheels, jumps to master or boost zones to fill in the allotted time. The least we can say is that with the impressive speed of the carousel, your reflexes will be put to the test; and as you go through the levels, the objectives and the difficulty will increase. Of course, to progress in Screamride, you have to glean as many decorations as possible associated with bonus challenges, among other things (timer, sequences of two-wheelers, boost duration, etc.). Without these medals, it is impossible to unlock the new game areas for a maximum of 18 levels. Eighteen is also the number of challenges awaiting you in "Expert in demolitions" mode. As its name suggests, your
re role here will be to destroy. And it is with the help of rather special rides that you will wipe entire buildings off the map. Sometimes equipped with a human catapult, sometimes launched at breakneck speed from a rail, you will have to manage the trajectory of your projectiles. The first levels will ask you to set the speed of rotation of the mechanical arm and the timing to catapult your guinea pigs onto the set with the right trajectory, And Angry Birds style, we admire the result, hoping that a piece of wall comes off explosive barrel to increase his devastating combo. Simple at first, things get tougher as the distances increase between the throwing area and the buildings to be destroyed. Fortunately, to achieve your goals, some levels feature flying minecarts or bouncing capsules to reach certain inaccessible areas or complete the famous challenges, present here too, to win the rewards. Succeeding in passing through certain rings, destroying an airship or propelling yourself more than 500 meters is not always easy.
Knowing Frontier Developments, we validate very well the creation and piloting side for a roller coaster game but why slip in an ersatz of Angry Birds or PAIN?
And speaking of difficulty, the last option in "Career" mode is also well off. In "Engineer" mode, you will have to finish what the game started. From unfinished roller coasters to building a powered ramp, Screamride gives you the opportunity to imagine the rest of the ride. But be careful to follow certain instructions. Not all construction elements are available from the start. You will have to wait a few levels before having fun making a loop, a spin or a jump. But it is above all the test sequence that will validate or not the level. As an engineer, you will have to take into account many more criteria than in the other modes: do not crash the minecart, do not stall, avoid knocking down the passengers, do not cross the rails, have enough speed but not too much either, not to exceed a certain number of elements, to respect a certain distance of ride or to prevent the passengers from having the sheaf. It will be necessary to regularly readjust, erase, recreate, tilt its layouts to achieve the expected result, not without difficulty. Although the use of the creation menu is simple with a simple press on X and a system of tabs to change category, it is not easy to place your module correctly because of a camera that has to be constantly moved. It prevents us from properly analyzing the inclinations of the rails or identifying the beginning or the end of the course when it does not decide to place itself behind a building. Conversely, the test phase clearly displays the errors on our route using small pictograms.
THE PAINFUL?
Three different game aspects just for the "Career" mode, Screamride is rather generous in appearance. Only, the progression is done without forcing at least until the fifth zone of play even if certain modes are simpler than others. The first problem in all this is that we do not understand the interest of the demolition mode. Knowing Frontier Developments, we validate very well the creation and piloting side for a roller coaster game but why slip in an ersatz of Angry Birds or PAIN? It's fun for an hour and it's probably the first mode on which we will rush, but in the end, it has nothing to do there. The other impressive problem with the game, apart from these few gameplay wanderings, particularly with regard to the camera, is that it is sorely lacking in fun! We go through the levels without ever being totally ecstatic. We will win from time to time a smile at the sight of the predictable crash of the wagon and all its passengers but it will stop there. And no question of sharing this meager consolation with friends or family because Screamride plays itself. There is indeed a "Sandbox" mode in which you will be able to make your level to your liking by choosing the decor, the layout, the buildings, the camera angles in view of sharing it online. Moreover, and as often with this kind of options, some players are tearing themselves up to concoct levels worthy of the best developers at Frontier. But once again, it will be the most persevering who will enjoy it. The others will try, complain, get tired and move on.
