Smash, Takedown and Boost your way to Onrush victory
- Developer: Codemasters
- Publisher: Koch Media
- Genre: Racing
- Release Date: 5th June 2018
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
- Reviewed on: Xbox One X, Stealth 600’s
- Game Supplied by: Koch Media
Car racing has evolved into carnage on demand, Onrush offers players of all skill levels the experience of fast action paced racing across various terrains, launching your vehicle over insane jumps whilst doing the unnatural (for some at least) crashing into other vehicles to gain boost and wreck your opponents to earn the highest scores for victory.
Onrush left me somewhat in two minds, as a natural racer I sometimes found myself avoiding fodder cars and opponent cars to move ahead and beat them which ultimately isn’t the goal of the game, it took some time to adjust to leaving across the track and placing my car in the right place to ensure a solid collision in order to wreck my opponents. When you do get to grips with it though it’s ultimately very satisfying smashing cars off the road, into boulders and buildings.
But then there is the inexperienced or fun loving racers, my 6 and 8 year old kids fit this audience and I have to say I can’t get them off it, any spare moments they have even if it’s just the odd race here and there and there onrush gauge is building smashing into the fodder, wrecking the opponents and from the smile on their faces as well as their animated actions it’s beyond obvious that there having fun.
Onrush offers a good depth of features and options not just in customisation of characters and the vehicles you drive but choice of vehicles such as, bikes, 4×4 and cars with varying features as seen in the video below allowing the player to have some say in how they destroy enemy vehicles but personally no matter what vehicle I was in it all felt very much the same, even when switching vehicles mid game (when you get wrecked you can change vehicles in some races) I didn’t notice any game changing difference when using my Onrush perk or other upgrades, yes some will notice and see differences but for me race close, smash vehicles and your gauge will fill up very quickly anyway.
Win races to earn gear crates, when opened you will receive 3 customisation elements from characters skins and celebrations to vehicle liveries but tbh again it just doesn’t make that much difference for me.
Races are split into a few different types offering a more diverse racing experience from simple boost and wreck scores to win to timed gates you must drive through to increase your team’s time. Whilst this was a pleasant variation in the gameplay it just still didn’t vary the racing enough for me. Don’t get me wrong it is fun and enjoyable to have the variation
Countdown – Countdown is a race through the gates against an ever-ticking clock. Hitting the gates will add precious seconds to your team’s time, keeping you in the game so drive fast and hard to beat your opponents to the gates.
Lockdown – Lockdown is a race to fight for control of a moving zone in a 100mph King of the Hill free for all. Get in the zone and fight for survival.
Switch – Survive as long as you can hunting down your opponents. You’ll get increasingly stronger vehicles each time you’re knocked out, but so will they. Be strategic and work with your team to win.
Overdrive – Overdrive mode is a pure ‘boost to win’. Get boost any way you can as quickly as possible and burn it up even quicker to reach the target score
Quickplay offers a more challenging stage as you are pitted against other online players and whilst it’s more challenging the gameplay really doesn’t change, and all be it races are closer on the whole due to the skill set over AI i didn’t find i had to adapt my play style or approach to the game at all.
Visually Onrush is very bright and active, all the environments are surrounded with nicely detailed buildings and varied terrain to enhance the already bright and striking vehicles and tracks your must traverse. Jumps, giant iron tubes trees, buildings all make the tracks come to life and keep you on your toes and whilst they might not be the most interesting of structures at times you do have to bear in mind the speed at which you are racing (if I can call it racing LOL) so put simply it just works.
I briefly touch on it earlier with the crates you earn after races for your customisation to your gear, and again a nice touch but not really mind blowing or highly customisable, it’s basically just decals and celebrations that didn’t add to the game enjoyment for me personally but others (my kids) did enjoy certain celebrations more than others.
As with any racing game sound forms an important part of the experience and Onrush delivers but not an outstanding experience. Voice overs vary from a soft voice guiding you through tutorials to the dominant and assertive voice for the titles of said tutorials. Perhaps a little over the top you might say but then this isn’t your typical racing game, so as above it just works.
Vehicles slide and hit the terrain hard and to be honest i noticed minimal to no difference between them apart from when on sand where it is noticeably different. Crashes and scrapes are the most common sound and there is no better sound when that cut scene kicks in and you hear that collision hit with the satisfaction you just wrecked your opponent.
Soundtrack wise it was there but didn’t get me any higher pumped than when I had it off as my focus was on the aforementioned collisions.
SUMMARY
It’s always hard taking a seasoned favourite game and giving it a twist, well Onrush isn’t just a twist it’s been wrenched, hammered and beaten into something new. Whilst I have to say what it does it does well and it is great fun to play in snippets, I found it more of a gap filler game that I jumped in and out of for 20 minutes at a time. Yeah as the game progressed elements were a bit trickier but still nothing so challenging that you could end up throwing a controller across the room (please don’t try this at home)
Not a all night type of game but hopefully some challenges and additional content will keep the game going for a bit longer.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!