"Shoot down the opponents comes first; run comes after"
Tested version: Playstation 4 Pro
Evolution Studios has always had a good curriculum for racing games at Sony, first with the WRC on PS2, then with the Motorstorm on PS3, and finally DriveClub on PS4. However, in 2016, Sony made changes to its internal studios and in the process, decided to close Evolution Studios, marking the end of the production. But this was a good example of "a door is closed and a window is opened". Shortly after his departure from Sony, the former members of Evolution Studios were hired by the British company Codemasters. But then, what do we have here, you ask? A recipe called Onrush, which features the Motorstorm and Burnout mixed into an action packed package.
Onrush is an arcade racing game, but it is also a fighting game with vehicles. Sometimes the player can choose the class they want to use in an offline event, all of them have different characteristics and abilities from each other. We have several events with certain objectives to do at Onrush, but none of them says to stay in 1st place, something that may be strange for some, but that is a result of a style more focused on teamwork and combat, and not so much on performance individual. This means that we have to get organized to get points and making takedowns to the opponents in order to get the team to victory.
In terms of game modes, in Overdrive we have to make 10000 points as fast as possible in a round (5 rounds maximum) through boost or Rush Ultimate, jumps and takedowns. Countdown mode has the general objective of trying to prevent the countdown of our team from running out and getting to the checkpoints as quickly as possible. Lockdown mode is a kind of Capture the zone. The goal is to capture the zones and for this we have to have more members of our team within that zone than the opposing team and hold 5 seconds. Finally, in switch mode we always start with bikes, we have to avoid Wrecks and knock down as many opponents as possible. Every time we take with a Wreck, we change vehicles.
The first time I played Onrush, it reminded me no doubt of the Motorstorm series due to the scenarios used and in terms of gameplay, reminded me of the Burnout. What I can say is that despite its drawbacks, such as the fact that Takedowns and Wrecks are somewhat inconsistent (a hard knock sometimes does nothing, but a slight knock can cause the car to be destroyed), I thought that the vehicle's steering could be slightly lighter. This is particularly noticeable on tight corners. In addition, it should be noted that there is no local multiplayer mode via splitscreen. On the positive side, the action of the game is frantic and appealing thanks to 60 super-stable FPS. Never lose the joke to see the vehicles, either ours or those of the opponent, keep the pieces flying every time a Takedown happens.
In addition to what I had previously mentioned, there is something called Rush Ultimate, which is a boost slightly more powerful than the normal boost. And when the vehicle uses this Rush Ultimate, in addition to the speed increase, depending on the vehicle, you can use a special movement on your opponents or partners. An example of this, is the Enforcer car, which makes opposing vehicles on its track temporarily blind.
Whenever we complete an event, we are rewarded with experience, stars, if we have completed a challenge in that event, and coins to buy items, accessories and clothing, among other things. And no, fortunately there are no microtransactions in Onrush. When we level up, we are rewarded with a Crate Gear that contains three items, which can be paintings for our vehicles, clothing, celebrations or tricks for our characters, or tombstones. As you may have guessed, this means we can customize our vehicles, choose our character and personalize it, as well as choose our Tombstone and Crashtag.
In graphical terms, they are visually not perfect, but this is completely supplanted thanks to the fluidity obtained with the 60 FPS. Onrush also has a good soundtrack, able to create a good atmosphere in both the menus and during the races, which features songs by artists such as Amon Tobin and Coldcut. In short, it is true that the gameplay of Onrush will not please everyone, especially those who wanted a true spiritual successor to Motorstorm, but despite their flaws, I confess that the game conquered me with its original and constant action on track.
Verdict: Despite their flaws, former Evolution Studios did a good job of creating an original product that is packed with action.