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Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is the first
original title from Psyonix Studios, and is available for download
on PlayStation Network now. Many gamers
 worldwide
will know Psyonix’s previous work, even if the name doesn’t
immediately ring a bell. Specialising in working with Unreal
Engine 3, the team’s biggest noise would have been their
involvement with Gears of War, developing the Kyrll flocking
system and having a large impact on the Burn’t Rubber Level in the
Campaign. Having also worked on various titles in the Unreal
Tournament series, and been responsible for porting Monster
Madness: Battle for Suburbia to the PLAYSTATION3, their
credentials certainly speak for themselves.
With all this in mind, it’s not hard to reason why expectations for
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars have been
unusually high for a reasonably priced downloadable title. As a
PlayStation Network exclusive release, the expectations from
PlayStation aficionados simply couldn’t be higher.
The downloadable services of the Current-Generation systems have
become synonymous with bite-size gaming – five-to-twenty minute
blasts of unadulterated adrenaline, strategising, brain taxing,
socialising or finger twiddling. Supersonic Acrobatic
Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars undoubtedly falls into the first
category.
The basic premise of the game involves players piloting rather nippy
diminutive vehicles, capable of small jumps on command, throughout
entirely enclosed
 arenas
– enough Boost and the player can propel themselves across the
ceiling with minimal fuss. Taking this theme and basing a pleasant
variety of gameplay modes around the capabilities it then provides,
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is a game
that’s manic enough for anyone to build enthusiasm for.
The game features two main Single-Player gameplay modes, with
Mini-Games having been promoted to first place on the Menu. Here,
the player must complete a series of four Mini-Games in a single
vehicle to progress to the next selection. Completion of each
Mini-Game will award the player with up to five Stars, accumulating
to hopefully reach the total of one-hundred available, and bagging a
couple of Trophies along the way.
The Mini-Games provide a fair amount of variety in their challenges,
ranging from collecting a set amount of Boost items, to evading
pursuing vehicles, and some fresher ideas such as volleying floating
balls and time dilation. Effectively, however, they act as Tutorials
in their own right for the finer techniques of controlling your
vehicle. Although players will undoubtedly have their favourite
gameplay mode, it’s clear that each included the package has seen
extensive playtesting. It’s easy to think that many alternative
modes have been left of Psyonix’s cutting-room floor.
The Tournament Mode sees the player progress through thirteen stages
of Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars’ unique
take on Football. Here, you would think, lies the meat of the
experience, but in truth the mode is short-lived when compared to
the Mini-Game and Multiplayer gameplay modes.
Multiplayer games are available both online and Split-Screen, the
latter of which fares considerably better. Online play is an
unfortunately unreliable experience, with some often
 daunting
delays in button-press recognition that, in a game which so heavily
relies on the frantic manoeuvre-and-counter-manoeuvre of its
players, renders it almost unplayable at times. Offline, however, is
simply fantastic. The Split-Screen play is quite simply what games
of Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars’ ilk have
been designed for, with the learned player able to pull-off some
stunning tricks without discouraging the newcomer from continuing
along their learning curve.
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is a decent
looking title. While never particularly pushing the PLAYSTATION3, it
does well to hide it’s Unreal Engine 3 roots with bright
colours and bouncy balloon-inspired physics. With only three arenas
and a handful of vehicles included in the package, it’s certainly
presented as a downloadable title – and the possibility of future
Downloadable Content once again raises the issue of whether or not
providing less at launch can be justified by the lower price-tag, or
whether it’s the simplistic gameplay that deems such titles less
worthy of a full retail-package release.
Comparing Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars to
the likes of Micro Machines would be woefully inaccurate.
More akin to Mario Kart’s infamous Battle Mode or Re-Volt,
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is easy to
become addicted to with friends. But the difficultly of some of the
Single-Player challenges and poor performance online may result in
that addiction being evident only when with friends. |
