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Logo by Max Layne Photography
| Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade |
Take one part “Super Off Road,” one part “Destruction Derby” and one part “R.C. Pro-Am” and mix them together with some updated graphics and players will have “Scrap Metal,” a new
game released to Xbox Live Arcade by Slick Entertainment. For anyone that has enjoyed any of the before mentioned games will want to try this game out. This bird’s eye view gives players
the feeling that they are driving miniature vehicles, though they are supposed to be led to believe that they are driving life sized cars. The emphasis here is on the arcade thrills that it provides,
instead of trying to create a realistic simulation or racing. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, even though there are some control issues in the game and a fairly bland art style.
“Scrap Metal” is a top down racers that offers much of the same elements as a typical racing game, but the twist this time around is that each vehicle in the game is armed to the brim with
weapons to be used to take out the opponents on the race track. There are eight tracks to tear up and destroy, each of which has a variety of missions to be completed.
What a lot of players are going to enjoy most about this game is the fact that there are a variety of mission types to play though. Players will find themselves switching back and forth from
racing to destruction derbies to boss battles to survival missions. This constant change helps keep the game feeling fresh, especially when it starts to feel like everything is the same. Since
the developer, Slick Entertainment, is also responsible for creating “N+” for Xbox Live Arcade, those who have played the game know that they know how to keep things fresh for players.
When players destroy a competitor during a mission, they earn the car from that competitor and it is put into their garage. Every vehicle in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses,
which will help or hurt players in the different types of missions, so there will have to be thought put into which vehicle to use for each event. Each car can also be upgraded in a variety of
areas, but only four cars can be house in the garage at one time, so players will want to be careful how they spend their upgrade points that they earned during different events. This is one
system that adds a lot of depth to a game that would otherwise be a bit shallow in the vehicle selection part of the game.
One area that the game does have some flaws is in the controls. Players will have a total of two control schemes to work with when they start the game. The recommended controls let
players simply press the left stick in the direction they want to drive and their car will move in that direction. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but once the players has gotten the hand of it
they will find that it works fairly well. The problem with this is that most gamers, at least those that have put in a large amount of time playing racing games, will want to instinctively press the
analog stick in the opposite direction when they are facing in order to go in reverse, when the game actually requires players to pull the left trigger in order to go backwards. It feels a little bit
awkward. For those that don’t like that specific control scheme can move on to the more advanced controls, which really seem to complicate things for the player. This option allows the
player to drive their vehicle like a remote control car by accelerating with the right trigger, braking with the left trigger and steering with the left analog stick. This will feel quite comfortable to any
gamers that have played a lot of racing games in the past. However, when it comes to steering, the players needs to take into account that they are driving from the perspective of the vehicle in
the game, meaning that if they are pointed towards the bottom of the screen, players needs to make sure that they mentally reverse the controls in their steering in order to move in the right
directions. It can get to be a headache and there is really no advantage to using the advanced controls unless they seem more user friendly for the player.
The other disappointing aspect of the game is the visuals. While racing around the different tracks in the game everything looks fine, though it isn’t necessarily spectacular either. There are
some nice details and plenty of objects lying around the track to be destroyed. However, the characters and the bosses are presenting with two dimensional still art that looks like they are
ripped out of comic books. “Scrap Metal” would have benefited greatly from a more unique and lively style of art.
Other than some odd controls and a fairly boring style of art, “Scrap Metal” is a fun car combat game. The variety of missions that are offered with help to hold the player’s interest and the
upgrade system with the vehicles allows for a lot of customization. There are a lot of arcade thrills for players to have if they are able to get used to the controls that are offered. Though fifteen
dollars may be a little steep for a game of this type, but when compared to the number of quarters thrown into an arcade machine to play a similar game, it is still fairly cheap.
game released to Xbox Live Arcade by Slick Entertainment. For anyone that has enjoyed any of the before mentioned games will want to try this game out. This bird’s eye view gives players
the feeling that they are driving miniature vehicles, though they are supposed to be led to believe that they are driving life sized cars. The emphasis here is on the arcade thrills that it provides,
instead of trying to create a realistic simulation or racing. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, even though there are some control issues in the game and a fairly bland art style.
“Scrap Metal” is a top down racers that offers much of the same elements as a typical racing game, but the twist this time around is that each vehicle in the game is armed to the brim with
weapons to be used to take out the opponents on the race track. There are eight tracks to tear up and destroy, each of which has a variety of missions to be completed.
What a lot of players are going to enjoy most about this game is the fact that there are a variety of mission types to play though. Players will find themselves switching back and forth from
racing to destruction derbies to boss battles to survival missions. This constant change helps keep the game feeling fresh, especially when it starts to feel like everything is the same. Since
the developer, Slick Entertainment, is also responsible for creating “N+” for Xbox Live Arcade, those who have played the game know that they know how to keep things fresh for players.
When players destroy a competitor during a mission, they earn the car from that competitor and it is put into their garage. Every vehicle in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses,
which will help or hurt players in the different types of missions, so there will have to be thought put into which vehicle to use for each event. Each car can also be upgraded in a variety of
areas, but only four cars can be house in the garage at one time, so players will want to be careful how they spend their upgrade points that they earned during different events. This is one
system that adds a lot of depth to a game that would otherwise be a bit shallow in the vehicle selection part of the game.
One area that the game does have some flaws is in the controls. Players will have a total of two control schemes to work with when they start the game. The recommended controls let
players simply press the left stick in the direction they want to drive and their car will move in that direction. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but once the players has gotten the hand of it
they will find that it works fairly well. The problem with this is that most gamers, at least those that have put in a large amount of time playing racing games, will want to instinctively press the
analog stick in the opposite direction when they are facing in order to go in reverse, when the game actually requires players to pull the left trigger in order to go backwards. It feels a little bit
awkward. For those that don’t like that specific control scheme can move on to the more advanced controls, which really seem to complicate things for the player. This option allows the
player to drive their vehicle like a remote control car by accelerating with the right trigger, braking with the left trigger and steering with the left analog stick. This will feel quite comfortable to any
gamers that have played a lot of racing games in the past. However, when it comes to steering, the players needs to take into account that they are driving from the perspective of the vehicle in
the game, meaning that if they are pointed towards the bottom of the screen, players needs to make sure that they mentally reverse the controls in their steering in order to move in the right
directions. It can get to be a headache and there is really no advantage to using the advanced controls unless they seem more user friendly for the player.
The other disappointing aspect of the game is the visuals. While racing around the different tracks in the game everything looks fine, though it isn’t necessarily spectacular either. There are
some nice details and plenty of objects lying around the track to be destroyed. However, the characters and the bosses are presenting with two dimensional still art that looks like they are
ripped out of comic books. “Scrap Metal” would have benefited greatly from a more unique and lively style of art.
Other than some odd controls and a fairly boring style of art, “Scrap Metal” is a fun car combat game. The variety of missions that are offered with help to hold the player’s interest and the
upgrade system with the vehicles allows for a lot of customization. There are a lot of arcade thrills for players to have if they are able to get used to the controls that are offered. Though fifteen
dollars may be a little steep for a game of this type, but when compared to the number of quarters thrown into an arcade machine to play a similar game, it is still fairly cheap.
| Genre: Racing Developer: Slick Entertainment Publisher: Slick Entertainment |
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