Off Road Drive

Rarely do driving titles developed in Russia manage to attract the attention of the public beyond their region. However, those that do well deserve it for their effort or for their originality. Off-Road Drive, the work of independent publisher 1C Company and developed by FX Interactive, falls somewhere in between these two camps. In addition, it comes to giving some life to a type of game that can suffer from some repetitiveness nowadays, such as off-road racing games. But the question does appear here, is there something inherently new or unique that Off-Road Drive offers to the gaming world? What is it all about? Well, let's talk about it.

About the game

Before we start judging this and that about this game, we have to take into account that it participates in the league of economic titles. That is to say, it doesn't pretend to rub shoulders with Dirt or WRC and company, but it represents a more accessible alternative. It also differs from them because it offers challenges that are less touched by those franchises. It is dedicated to tests more typical of pure and hard off-roaders to show off their mountain goat skills.

That said, Off-Road Drive can stand out in that class of video games thanks to several aspects that will be discussed below. While it doesn't end up being perfect, the work of the developers will allow it to carve out a niche for itself and for fans of the genre to keep it in their memories.

Using Unreal Engine 3 is great for the water, mud, sand, and vegetation that give a lot of realism to the environments, which have been well differentiated to recognize them as typical landscapes of Africa, Thailand, or Malaysia. Also positive are the recreation of the headlights in the dark and the rain, as well as the user-friendly menus.

Technical aspect

This game uses the Unreal Engine 3, and this has a lot of impact on the entire game, even going just beyond the visuals, which by the way looks a lot like a top-notch game. The effects and car modeling are pretty good, and all of the renderings are astonishing.

However, even though the technical elements of the game are beautiful on a visual level, the gameplay does suffer a bit. The gameplay would have been as successful as the graphics, but 1C Company's decisions that made the game somewhat complex prevented it. The Unreal Engine 3 also has a positive influence, as it is also responsible for the physics of the vehicles and this is not bad. The behavior reproduces well the characteristic features of off-road vehicles and how they react to different types of terrain. Gravel and light sand suit them well but put them in mud and it takes hours to get out.

The problem is that, in an attempt to make Off-Road Drive a more serious product, the developers have made the gameplay experience quite complicated. Precisely the excessive realism when it comes to driving an off-roader will hurt less experienced users.

Review: 7/10

Off-Road Drive is a game that offers a lot of content and will have you hooked for a while. It looks pretty good, and even though the gameplay does suffer a bit, it’s a solid experience.

Pros:

• Good-looking graphics
• Loads of fun races
• Nice environments

Cons:

• The controls get a little too complex at times
• Some unbalanced elements