[VR Game Review] Blaze Rush: Micro Machines meets Mario Kart in Glorious Stereo 3D
I normally don't give two shits about racing games. Some have surprised me in the past. I really liked the Rallisport Challenge games and Ridge Racer Type 4 for instance. But in assuming Blaze Rush was about racing, I misunderstood it from the get go. It biased me against picking it up until I was hard up for new VR content. What a fool I was.
If you've played RC Pro Am or Galaxy 5000 For the NES, Micro Machines for the Genesis or Rock n' Roll Racing for SNES, you mostly know what to expect. It is indeed isometric racing, with cars that will appear like little toys from your vantage point. However, there's much more of a focus on combat than in any of those games. I would liken it more closely to an isometric Mario Kart.
The core gameplay involves collecting boost powerups, without which you have no hope of placing first, and trying like hell not to skid off the track or be launched into space by somebody elses weapon. The three types of boost are varied in power and duration. Three types! That's to say nothing of the astonishing variety of weapons in this game.
...Or the variety of cars. You've got tank tread cars, jet cars, hover cars, moon rover cars, and they all actually handle differently depending on their means of traction. Then there's the variety of gameplay.
There's straight up races, elimination races, night races, a type where you're being chased by a crushing, grinding steamroller (seen below) and more. There's * a lot* of content in this game, and loads upon loads of gameplay variety.
There needed to be, surely? Without all the variation on cars, powerups and weapons, tracks, environments, gameplay modes and so on it would be an untenably simple game. It avoids that by constantly spicing up its (admittedly sound, tight and delightful) core gameplay in endless new ways as you progress through singleplayer.
Visually, the game is a treat. The tracks have all kinds of little environmental details you'll notice as you whip past like leaves, vines, metal junk and so forth. They really stand out as the 3D effect of VR is strongest for stuff that's close up, and the entire game is close up.
The bird's eye view of the neat looking car models is also a joy, they look rad as hell. The controls are equally polished, everything handles perfectly so when you die (and that will happen frequently) you'll have nobody to blame but yourself. Well, and random chance.
Random may not be the right word. But races are extremely chaotic to the point where, when shit gets truly hectic, it can be tough to tell what's going on. Often you'll die and have no idea how it happened. But mastering that chaos, learning to navigate it unharmed is all part of getting good at Blaze Rush.
For $9.99, Blaze Rush is easy to recommend for two reasons: Variety, and replayability. There is some meager semblance of a standard scifi story to it just to set the stage for races, but it's really just about racing, and it never gets old. This isn't some narrative driven experience you play through once, then set aside.
Games come in two varieties: Stories, and toys. A game like The Assembly is a story. Blaze Rush is a toy. In the best sense of the word, though. It's also one of the few VR games out right now with worthwhile multiplayer, so if you've got one or more VR equipped buddies, don't pass this up. I give Blaze Rush an 8/10.
Screenshot credits to Oculus
Your post reminded me of playing Rock N’ Roll Racing
Still so weird to think that's a Blizzard game.
I have not bought the vr, but buy the Blaze Rush is one of the first games that I play. Previously, when I was young, almost every day I am playing with friends on the sega mega drive 2 in Rock N 'Roll Racing. Your post immediately dalmne good memories)
Also reminds me of motomash
thank you alex for this review! i followed you. if your interested in art it would be nice u check my blog out. perhaps u find some nice art that u will like :) <3 kalipo keep it on
Very cool. Looks like an amped up Mario Cart.
Thank you for taking the time to write this review up. :)
Many thanks for your review Alex, I hope to be able to play it soon. I am convinced that was a hit follow you. If you like the mythology and folklore you can see my last post. I send you greetings and wish you a great week.
Nice review, though I did not read anything about the VR experience or the "Glorious Stereo 3D" that the game apparently provides? Also it would be nice to also mention what kind of VR devices the game supports if you are making a review of a VR game as this one apparently only works on Oculus Rift (from what I have found), but not HTC VIVE for example. Giving a link to the official game website for additional details would also be nice...
All in all it seems that you have reviewed the game in "plain 2D", but the title talks about VR and Stereo 3D... misleading me as I expected to read especially how the game looks in VR mode and is the stereoscopic depth effect good or not, as well as maybe if it really fun or worth playing in VR mode or one should stick to the normal "2D mode". Anyway thanks for the review, now I'm going to be checking it out in VR mode to see for myself and answer these questions :)
"The tracks have all kinds of little environmental details you'll notice as you whip past like leaves, vines, metal junk and so forth." What I mean here is that because everything's near to your view, you get a really strong 3D effect that makes the separate little details stand out. I've amended my review to include this.
No I haven't. I reviewed it on a Rift CV1.
Thanks, I was just giving some pointers that you can use for your next VR game review... ;)
BTW even mentioning what you have tested the game in VR is important information for people into VR as the experience can differ on different devices and not all games support Oculus, VIVE, or maybe even some mobile VR device such as Gear VR or Google Cardboard + clones.
Sound advice. I stipulated in my first review that I only have Rift and Gear VR but I can mention that in every review going forward.
I believe that doing this will be good, I for example missed that review and did not know...
Also mentioning the official website of the game, you can search for it, but it will be much easier to have it directly at the end of the post, so you can click it and get more info should you need such.
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