Do you have fond memories of playing Cube Runner, the game that looked like this?
Did you have fun with that game? Want to have less fun.....for free*?
*for PS+ members, $5 for losers w/o
Cue Sony's Playstation+ game of the month, Race the Sun, a PSN/Vita game that pits you against the sun for points, power-ups, and the state of being pissed off. Take the wild success of mobile games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run, mix it with a drab, uninteresting universe and you've got this game - a fast paced highway to hell. This game actually has favorable reviews according to everyone's favorite aggregate, Metacritic, which is something I don't understand in the slightest.
Wait, only 7 critic reviews? Hold on a second-
Oh, okay, that makes a little more sense.
So, what makes this game unworthy of the measly ~300MB it takes up on your hard drive? Primarily, the gameplay. You play as a tiny triangle spaceship powered by the sun, let's call him Eddie. Eddie can fly in three directions: forward (at a decent clip), and side to side (at two speeds, nearly immobile and uncontrollable). Various geometric shapes dot the horizon and get in your way as you attempt to get Eddie to the finish line. Along the way, you may pick up speed boosters that make Eddie fly slightly faster and magic yellow beans, which momentarily reverses the setting sun above you. Are you suddenly realizing you've heard of this gameplay concept before?
You're not alone. Great minds think alike.
The concept is preconceived and the game mechanics are tried and true, yet the controls are clunky and unresponsive. The speed at which you fly forward is manageable enough but the lack of assistance in sliding left and right make the game tedious. Each level is completely static - yup, no randomly generating terrain here - but then again, similar games in this category don't have that either so I guess I can give it a pass. However, with the level being premade, there is no excuse for the fact that power-ups are placed often unreachably behind pillars and other large obstacles. Sun-reversers are scarce and there is little motivation to go out of your way to find them. Speed boosters are slightly easier to obtain, but the effect of them makes an already painstaking game even harder.
The gameplay issues are compounded by a completely dull color palette used for the graphics. You get a few fine shades of grey for the level, tinges of blue for the speed boosters and undrawn obstacles on the horizon, and a splash of yellow-orange for sun-reversers and the explosion it makes when you crash. That's it. Unless you're sitting 5 feet from your TV or you are playing on some massive screen, your eyes will strain as you attempt to navigate the complex streets that come forth to meet you.
The merits of this game are that it provides a decent time waster for those who find chasing after weekly records thrilling - the game provides an excellent online scorekeeping system and updates weekly to account for new tracks or obstacle designs. Additionally, although I mentioned it jokingly before, the small size of the game enables one go from storefront to main menu fairly quickly. The game has been patched twice since its initial release and you will of course have to download those before playing, but the patches themselves are fractions of the game's size and should be no problem for those with your average internet connection.
Overall, Race the Sun is a well-meant game that falls short of the standards set by all else in its genre. While some may find the challenge fun, the frustrations are abound and there is little to redeem the mediocre gameplay.
WEEREZ AT A GLANCE?
+ - Pros
? - Neutrals
- - Cons
+Active online scorekeeping adds replayability
+Small size makes playing easy
?Basic, mind-numbing game-play. Great for a 10 minute break from doing work.
-Very repetitive
-Uninspired and frustrating level design
-Clunky control scheme
-Eye-straining graphics
Did you have fun with that game? Want to have less fun.....for free*?
*for PS+ members, $5 for losers w/o
Cue Sony's Playstation+ game of the month, Race the Sun, a PSN/Vita game that pits you against the sun for points, power-ups, and the state of being pissed off. Take the wild success of mobile games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run, mix it with a drab, uninteresting universe and you've got this game - a fast paced highway to hell. This game actually has favorable reviews according to everyone's favorite aggregate, Metacritic, which is something I don't understand in the slightest.
Wait, only 7 critic reviews? Hold on a second-
Oh, okay, that makes a little more sense.
So, what makes this game unworthy of the measly ~300MB it takes up on your hard drive? Primarily, the gameplay. You play as a tiny triangle spaceship powered by the sun, let's call him Eddie. Eddie can fly in three directions: forward (at a decent clip), and side to side (at two speeds, nearly immobile and uncontrollable). Various geometric shapes dot the horizon and get in your way as you attempt to get Eddie to the finish line. Along the way, you may pick up speed boosters that make Eddie fly slightly faster and magic yellow beans, which momentarily reverses the setting sun above you. Are you suddenly realizing you've heard of this gameplay concept before?
You're not alone. Great minds think alike.
The concept is preconceived and the game mechanics are tried and true, yet the controls are clunky and unresponsive. The speed at which you fly forward is manageable enough but the lack of assistance in sliding left and right make the game tedious. Each level is completely static - yup, no randomly generating terrain here - but then again, similar games in this category don't have that either so I guess I can give it a pass. However, with the level being premade, there is no excuse for the fact that power-ups are placed often unreachably behind pillars and other large obstacles. Sun-reversers are scarce and there is little motivation to go out of your way to find them. Speed boosters are slightly easier to obtain, but the effect of them makes an already painstaking game even harder.
The gameplay issues are compounded by a completely dull color palette used for the graphics. You get a few fine shades of grey for the level, tinges of blue for the speed boosters and undrawn obstacles on the horizon, and a splash of yellow-orange for sun-reversers and the explosion it makes when you crash. That's it. Unless you're sitting 5 feet from your TV or you are playing on some massive screen, your eyes will strain as you attempt to navigate the complex streets that come forth to meet you.
The merits of this game are that it provides a decent time waster for those who find chasing after weekly records thrilling - the game provides an excellent online scorekeeping system and updates weekly to account for new tracks or obstacle designs. Additionally, although I mentioned it jokingly before, the small size of the game enables one go from storefront to main menu fairly quickly. The game has been patched twice since its initial release and you will of course have to download those before playing, but the patches themselves are fractions of the game's size and should be no problem for those with your average internet connection.
Overall, Race the Sun is a well-meant game that falls short of the standards set by all else in its genre. While some may find the challenge fun, the frustrations are abound and there is little to redeem the mediocre gameplay.
WEEREZ AT A GLANCE?
+ - Pros
? - Neutrals
- - Cons
+Active online scorekeeping adds replayability
+Small size makes playing easy
?Basic, mind-numbing game-play. Great for a 10 minute break from doing work.
-Very repetitive
-Uninspired and frustrating level design
-Clunky control scheme
-Eye-straining graphics