Racing Bros (PS4) Review

 

Racing Bros is one of the few free racing games that exists and maybe the only free racing game in the Playstation store. Does that mean it is worth a try? Racing Bros has turned into a kind of meme game. Most aspects of this game are kind of terrible, but in a very entertaining way, which doesn't make it so easy to rate.

There are a couple of different maps and modes available, which range from classic races, to Cops vs Thieves (Mafia) Chases, Downhill Falling contests and modes, in which you have to destroy your opponents. In some you are even piloting a spaceship or a boat instead of a car. The spaceships however control exactly the same as the cars and the boat levels are rather boring and bland, but at least the variety of modes got slightly enhanced. One of the strengths of Racing Bros is the fact, that all races can also be played in 2-4 player offline splitscreen races. Unfortunately there is no online multiplayer available, which is a big wasted opportunity. Regardless of the amount human players, all races also feature a couple of Bots, which drive weirdly around the maps and constantly bump into each other and yourself. There is indeed a lot of mayhem, or let's better call it chaotic nonsense, going on.

The biggest problems of Racing Bros however are the gameplay and driving physics, the visuals, as well as the many Bugs. Your car is going to flip really soon and sometimes apparently random, which can indeed look quite funny, but is certainly not well executed gameplay. The driving controls are very imprecise and the collision detection just feels off. The cars will bounce more allover the place instead of actually driving somewhere. Overall I found the driving in the game to feel rather horrible, which is kind of a big negative for a racing game. It is certainly chaotic, but despite its inherent potential for amusement, I can't say I enjoyed the races too much after a couple of minutes. Playing with friends might entertain you for a little longer, but it can't hide the many gameplay flaws either.

The visuals in Racing Bros are also very underwhelming. If this was a PS2 game, I would ask myself what went wrong in the development. I don't know which visual engine was being used, but all the environments look so bland and empty. There are no details on anything, including the vehicles, and most environmental elements like buildings and trees repeat over and over again, without alternation. The Racing Bros maps remind me of some sketches early in development, but not of finished products. Low budget, free game or not, this flaws could not be excused for a PS3 game and certainly not for a PS4 game.

Racing Bros as previously mentioned also has many glitches. That you can already start driving a couple of seconds before the starting countdown reaches 0 is rather entertaining, but getting permanently stuck in the environment, or being unable to see anything, because the camera is glitching around, is not. At least the winning music is rather good in Racing Bros. I guess that's something???

What I am quite unsure about is how the game finances itself. The PS4 version is free and there is no additional purchasable gameplay or cosmetic content. Maybe the game simply had a very small budget? There is however also a PS5 version of the game, that doesn't look noticeably better than the PS4 version, but costs nearly 10 Euro/Dollar. It does have trophy support, which the PS4 version lacks, but no additional content. Whether this "upgrade" is worth it, can be doubted. The PS4 version of the game released in 2020, the PS5 port in 2021 and maybe there will be a PC port in late 2022. Every couple of months there are some small content updates being released, which is commendable. That being said I have no idea why they keep developing new content for this game, instead of fixing the noticeable issues with the game or releasing a different, better project instead.  

 

Pro:

+ 2-4 player splitscreen races

+ Meme aspects can be funny for a while

 

Contra:

- Bad driving gameplay

- Horrible physics and collision detection

- Ugly visuals

- Too many glitches

- No online races

 

Result:

Racing Bros is obviously just a Meme game and at least some people celebrate it for that, but I unfortunately can't join their praises. Goat Simulator for example is also a Meme game, but that one actually got at least halfway decent gameplay to back its jokes up. The game modes in Racing Bros aren't anything special, which you couldn't have seen in any PS1 game as well, and the gameplay is for the most part just plain bad. The glitches and countless flips and crashes in Racing Bros are not funny, but just annoying. Some will say Racing Bros is so bad, it has already become good again. I unfortunately however believe it is for the most part just bad.

 

3.5/10

Genesis (PS4) Review

 

Genesis was a PS4 exclusive MOBA game, that shutdown on the 10th of April 2022. It had previously released in March 2019 and was one of the few classic MOBAs on console. Genesis was therefore one of the pioneers, that proved that games with the gameplay complexity of League of Legends or DOTA could be brought to a console and be played with a gamepad too. There were apparently also PC and XBOX versions of Genesis planed as well, but they at some point along the way got cancelled (probably due to unsatisfactory financial success).

The gameplay of Genesis is as mentioned indeed quite similar to those of LOL and DOTA. Every player takes on a hero, that he chooses before the match, and has to help his team conquer one of the three lanes on every map to reach the enemies capital and destroy their home base in order to win. Alternatively a side can also win in Genesis by killing 60 players of the other team (in case both teams neutralize each other during the match). Players can feed up Bots on the lanes or in the surrounding areas to level up, become stronger and purchase helpful items. The only real downside of the Genesis gameplay is the slow movement speed of the characters. It can sometimes look like they are running in slow motion. I know that most MOBAs don't have the highest movement speed, but Genesis seems even slower.

One of the other differences to classic PC MOBAs is also that Genesis requires far less buttons and actions. There are only 4 different abilities, which is noticeably less than in most other games. The controls therefore work fine with a gamepad and are not too complicated. Combinations of abilities and items also seem to be less important than in the most of the other competitive MOBAs. Genesis could generally be described as a bit simpler in its gameplay, but it seems to work fine nonetheless. The devs also enabled chats through voice pings to compensate the lack of a keyboard within console games, which generally makes chatting through non-verbal forms difficult, which is something quite common in PC MOBAs.

A standout feature and the reason why I got interested in the game was its Story Campaign. Players could complete different scenarios with any of the multiplayer heroes and there were even cutscenes tying the story together. That being said the campaign didn't look like it would have been good enough to sell it on its own. Missions objectives were rather simple, like defeat this boss or defend against x amount of enemy waves. Non-spoken dialogues were very difficult to read during combat, they could have definitely implemented that better. The campaign could also be played with an online friend in a coop-mode, which is nice. Overall it was nonetheless pretty cool and unique to see a PVE campaign in a MOBA, even though the quality left to be desired. 

Genesis featured 33 different heroes. In the last months of the game all heroes were available for free, but for a long time characters were locked behind a paywall. Some could be unlocked via ingame currency, like in League of Legends for example, but some could sadly only be accessed via money transfers. Such a system is obviously not optimal, if the game isn't 100% balanced. I couldn't fully judge the hero balance, because they game shutdown a short time after I started playing. I have however heard, that Genesis had severe Balancing issues. Some characters were simply OP in comparison to others. Perfect balance obviously can never be achieved, but that would have been a massive flaw.

Fun fact: There was gimmick hero called Mitch&Cuth in Genesis, that could only be played with 2 controllers. You required two humans to play him, which is very funny, but obviously also rather unpractical and more of a Meme/Joke. One player controlled the movement, the other the abilities. At least it was certainly unique.

The visuals of Genesis were generally quite good for a MOBA. I wouldn't call them amazing by any means, but they were probably better than those of some of the older more popular PC MOBAs. Movement and fighting animations also looked alright.

My biggest problems with Genesis were technical issues. At least a year before the final shutdown, US and EU servers were already turned down. All players therefore had to connect to Chinese servers, which made most multiplayer matches for me nearly unplayable. The Ping was so high, that I could barely move along the lanes. Many matches also simply refused to start and even needed to queue a couple of times to play campaign missions. These technical problems shouldn't have been the case.

 

Pro:

- Satisfactory implementation of a console MOBA

- Additional Story Campaign

- Good visuals

 

Contra:

- Balancing issues (Heroes + Paying for Unlocks)

- Too slow movement speed

- Technical Problems (Chinese servers etc.)

 

Result:

Genesis was a decent competitor to Smite, which so far has and still is dominating the console MOBA scene. Genesis proved, that you could also implement a classic MOBA on a Playstation and therefore already deserves a lot of respect. An additional PVE Campaign in a multiplayer focused game is also a real strong asset. The implementation however wasn't optimal and Balancing as well as Technical problems prevented the game from becoming a success. I am admittedly not a MOBA fan, but Genesis was nonetheless a fun game, that would have deserved a bit more recognition.

 

6.25/10

Alien Removal Division (PC) Review

 

Alien Removal Division is a mix of an obstacle course Platformer and a classic First-Person Shooter. The gameplay reminded me a lot of the Titanfall and the latest Doom games.  You take the role of a Marine in the Alien Removal Division, that aims to clean up an Alien Breach in a scientific facility.

Movement in ARD feels great. You can combine slides with Wall-Runs, grappling, midair dashes and so. The movement has clearly been designed to suit obstacle course like levels and reminded a lot of people of the Titanfall 2 campaign. ARD even has a similar trial tutorial level. I agree with this comparison and also enjoyed this fast and satisfactory gameplay. The gunplay in ARD is also at least decent, but probably not as strong as the movement. Nonetheless, it will also be able to satisfy fans of Doom or other Alien slaughtering games.

The presentation of the game was another positive surprise. The levels very much fit the theme of secret underground facility blemished by an Alien attack. There are also cutscenes introducing new enemy types or boss fights, which don't have to fear a comparison to games by smaller Indie studios, that sell for actual money. ARD on the other hand is a F2P game developed by a group of students. If they made this game much longer than 20-30 minutes, that a playthrough lasts, than they could have also sold this for a hand full of Euro. I see enough quality in presentation and gameplay to make that claim.

ARD also at least provides some speedrun potential to extend the game's length. You can always activate a timer measuring your fastest playthroughs and attempt to unlock all related achievements. The gameplay with the slide, jump, dash combinations also supports this playstyle.

As mentioned the game provides a couple of different enemy types, that usually get highlighted in the ingame cutscenes and there is even a boss fight in the last section of the game, that got added through a content update. Generally that is a cool thing, even though the fight felt both a bit too long and too easy at the same time. Long, because the Boss has very long invincibility periods and the fight drags on for a bit without offering any meaningful variety. Too easy on the other hand, because findable health items respawn rather quickly. An alternative harder difficulty setting would have also been appreciated since the game was overall perhaps a bit too forgiving.

The visuals are obviously not the very best in the genre, which would have been a very unrealistic expectation, but quite decent and fit the previously mentioned strong presentation. I was just a bit disappointed by the performance. Throughout the game I experienced a bit of microstuttering and have read from other people making the same experience. This was probably the biggest letdown and it would have been great, if the devs had managed to optimize this a bit better.

 

Pro:

- Satisfying mix of Platforming and Shooter elements

- Strong presentation for a small game

- Speedrun potential

 

Contra:

- Slight performance problems (Microstuttering)

- Short length (20-30 mins)

 

Result:

Alien Removal Division is a surprisingly well done little Alien Shooter. The presentation was stronger than one could have expected and the competent mix of Titanfall and Doom elements with the satisfying movement made the game quite enjoyable. The shooting was still good, but there was a bigger discrepancy to the Top games. ARD also gets hold back by short length and some performance issues. The game is however worth a recommendation as a F2P Shooter/Platformer mix and for fans of Alien slaughtering games.

 

7/10

Goat Simulator (PS4) Review

 

At first, I thought Goat Simulator was going to be another of this godawful simulator games for mundane activities of real life (like Trucker Simulator or Bus Driver Simulator). Goat Simulator however is a different beast. It is Meme Game more than anything else and doesn't have much real simulator aspects. You play a Goat in a physics based sandbox and the aim of the game is to wreck mayhem and experience all kinds of little stories within the chaos.

The maingame consists of two areas (Goatville and Goatcity), in which you are completely free to do whatever you want from the get go. There is no overreaching narrative storyline, just a mean spirited Goat doing his thing. There are however many small stories hidden in the game. You can for example sacrifice humans to a demonic Devil Goat, crash a Disco Party, take a Boat Ride or contact aliens.

The Goat can jump on objects, attack humans and destroy stuff with his horns, or attache himself to all kinds of objects via his licking tongue. These options get multiplied by the various Transformations and Bonuses (like double jumping, jet packs etc.) that get unlocked by completing the many side quests. Exploring the sandbox levels (which aren't too gigantic) and creating chaos has to be a big motivator to truly enjoy this game, because you will beat the regular side missions in around 4-5 hours and after that the chaos will be your only motivation to continue. The gameplay is definitely entertaining thanks to the hilariously unrealistic Physics of the Goat and other objects flying throughout the air.

Goatville is more of small town area, while Goatcity has a bit more of a big city vibe. The DLCs apparently allow you to further explore space ('Waste of Space'), become a criminal ('Payday'), survive a Zombie apocalypse ('Goatz') or participate in an online Roleplay game ('MMO Simulator'). I have however not played any of them.

Goat Simulator was also ported to the Playstation 3 and the PS4 version doesn't look like a big improvement. The framerate is also a lot choppier than on the PC, especially if stuff explodes. Furthermore there are lots of Glitches and Bugs in the game, many of them done on purpose for comedic effects. Nonetheless, the technical status of the PS4 version is disappointing and I feel like the buggy state of the game has been taken as justification to simply not need to fix any kind of glitches, which is a bit lazy.

There is one more aspect worth mentioning for potential trophy hunters. Goat Simulator is not a very difficult game, but there is one minigame called 'Flappy Goat' that will drive you into complete madness. This is heavily inspired by the game Flappy Bird, just a million times worse. Flappy Goat is far more difficult due to significantly faster drop off times and comedically large hitboxes of objects. Completing even 10 goals took me hours to accomplish and is still the stuff, that hunts me in my nightmares. Whoever developed Flappy Goat should feel ashamed of themselves.

 

Pro:

- Very entertaining Meme Game (funny)

- Hilariously absurd Physics and Chaos

- Nice sandbox levels

- Interesting side stories

 

Contra:

- No real narrative

- Ugly visuals for a PS4 game

- More Glitches than necessary

- FLAPPY GOAT!

 

Result:

Goat Simulator is one of the funniest games I have played in a while and I had a good time with the mayhem my Goat was able to create and the nice side stories I discovered. The technical status of the PS4 version however is lackluster, the visuals are underwhelming and after a couple of hours I personally lost the motivation to play, since I felt I had experienced everything the game has to offer. Nonetheless, Goat Simulator was despite its many issues a positive surprise for me and I would recommend it to anybody interested in Meme Games or who wants to create pure chaos with a nasty Goat.

 

6.5/10