ONRUSH Xbox One review: A rewarding and addictive riot on wheels

ONRUSH

In the (not that erstwhile) days on PlayStation, there was an off-road racer with a pretty passionate following called MotorStorm. The last MotorStorm game to release came in 2022, with Sony eventually shutting down the studio that made information technology, Evolution Studios, in 2022.

Codemasters so hired the out-of-piece of work staff, and now, in 2022 comes ONRUSH. It'due south unfair to say this is the modernistic MotorStorm because ONRUSH has its ain identity.

But the credentials of the squad behind it aren't in any doubt. ONRUSH isn't just a new IP, it's taking a fresh approach to the genre.

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Non your daddy's racing game

The trouble with racing games is that in that location'due south an chemical element of predictability almost them. The very nature of racing leads to a finite circuit with a winner either the first to get there or the fastest at doing it. ONRUSH isn't like normal racing games. In that location are no laps, there are no first lines, no checkered flags. You lot're rewarded for driving like an utter lunatic. The more y'all take out your opponents, the better your chances of winning.

ONRUSH throws out the racing rulebook and is all the better for it.

The various race types in ONRUSH have different ways of winning. In Overdrive, you and your squad race to hitting a points target before your opponent. In Lockdown, yous have to have command of a zone and achieve the winning number of controls earlier your opponents. Countdown is like vehicular slalom, where you lot race between gates to go on topping up your timer, with the starting time hitting zero the loser. All of the circuits are chaotic, destructible in places and full of ludicrous jumps.

There's a decent selection of different race types and lengths in ONRUSH, all requiring a different approach to winning. Merely what's refreshing is that in the unmarried-player way, you can progress with full honors without winning the race. Each new section of the career style, known as Superstars, is unlocked by gaining a certain number of stars. Y'all gain stars for completing in-race challenges, some of which are to win, some of which are to cause carnage.

ONRUSH

This lack of traditional racing mechanics makes ONRUSH exciting to play in an entirely new style. It's fast pace and constant activeness are paired with fairly short races, and they're great for getting in a quick session. It's piece of cake to choice up but challenging to master.

ONRUSH is super-smooth on the Xbox 1 X I reviewed it on (it's too One X Enhanced), with no tearing. Whatsoever noticeable drops in frame charge per unit would kill a game this fast, and then props to Codemasters for getting the performance spot on.

Team play and tactics

ONRUSH

Where ONRUSH is well-nigh like to the quondam MotorStorm games is that yous're rewarded for being ruthless. Here, takedowns are function of the normal process, hurting your opponent's chances while simultaneously boosting yours. Just information technology's also office of a pretty clever tactical play, 1 that makes ONRUSH a solid championship to play in a group of friends. I didn't have a take chances to test out online multiplayer, merely there were reports of functioning issues. The latest patch should take care of that.

Which vehicles make up your team volition touch on how well you're able to meet the objectives of each race type. The different two and four-wheeled options accept different special abilities. In some cases in single-player you'll be told which vehicle to employ, merely even so, how you use information technology makes the difference.

It can look hectic and random, but a solid strategy tin can ever come out on height.

In Switch, for example, a lot of the onus is on staying alive while taking down opponents. Everyone starts on bikes and moves to progressively stronger vehicles, which are harder to take downward. So, as a team, you accept options. One player on a bike could do everything possible to stay out of problem and keep their lives intact, letting others go off and get aggressive.

You also get a Rush meter, a special ability that when charged you lot can unleash. But using it at the wrong fourth dimension tin be costly.

Usually, in a racing game, your only real thought is going as fast as possible and passing opponents. In ONRUSH, in that location's a whole tactical game that comes into play, equally it might if you were squadding up in a first-person shooter (FPS). Ranked play isn't bachelor during the review menstruum, but it'due south like shooting fish in a barrel to see that the clever players will exercise well.

Promising but not perfection

ONRUSH

While ONRUSH gameplay is generally very slick and well executed, in that location are aspects of it that could exist improve balanced.

Takedowns are an integral part of gameplay, but they can exist wildly unpredictable. On occasions, yous'll find yourself smashing the daylights out of an opponent with absolutely no luck, but you lot'll be taken out yourself having been tapped slightly. Sometimes it feels a little too random when you're knocked out of the game, and how.

The Lockdown game fashion also feels too unforgiving. Yous're supposed to chase a zone and capture it, merely if you get taken out or you fall behind for any reason, it'due south near incommunicable to grab up since all the vehicles travel as fast as each other. If your team falls behind, it's highly unlikely you'll avoid getting trounced.

Make a cup of tea while you're respawning, because it takes that long.

None of this is helped by a five-second respawn fourth dimension which, in a game like this, feels like ages.

Some of the challenges feel a petty artificially hard. No one wants an easy game, but at that place are some challenges that require multiple instances of a very specific set of events. Sometimes the races only aren't long enough to have any chance of achieving them.

On the flip side, the Achievements in the Xbox Ane version of the game are very accessible, and none feel out of reach to anyone simply playing through the game normally. At that place are too in-game rewards in the class of gear crates full of cosmetics and credits, which, for now, don't seem to cost real money.

The bottom line on ONRUSH for Xbox One

ONRUSH

With the history of the team making ONRUSH, many have been holding high hopes for this off-road racer. And for the almost part, those people volition be happy. ONRUSH is a riot of chaos and carnage with strategy running through its core.

Information technology's a game that doesn't take itself too seriously and yep, the "story" is ridiculous, simply every time I play this game I'm smiling.

Pros:

Absurdly fun.
Xbox One X enhanced.
A fresh outlook on a racing game.

Cons:

Some randomness in achieving takedowns.
Some of the gameplay needs improve balancing.
Respawn times take forever.

There are things that could be improved, similar the excruciating respawn times, every bit well every bit some things that experience too difficult simply for the sake of it. Pre-release is also never a time to become a proper feel for online multiplayer, so hopefully information technology doesn't autumn autonomously there.

None of this takes away from the enjoyment of playing ONRUSH as a unmarried player. I hope information technology remains supported with additional content because it's a game I'd dear to continue playing.

ONRUSH is bachelor now for Xbox One for around $lx. The game is also bachelor for PC and PlayStation iv.

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This review was conducted entirely on the Xbox One X with a copy provided by the publisher for purposes of review.

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