Chaos Ride Review

Racing games made up quite a large portion of my childhood. From titles such as Sonic Heroes
and myriads of Nascar Racing’s yearly incarnations, some of my best memories can be traced back to burning rubber with my dearest partner in crime, my sister. Hell, my parents even bought me a racing wheel and pedals (my feet couldn’t even reach the floor of my room back then, so you can imagine how effective they were) to add to the realism.

You can only imagine, then, the nostalgic rush that overcame me as I booted up Chaos Ride for the first time. Did it deliver?

Sadly, no.

The first thing that hit me as I loaded Chaos Ride was its painfully choppy main menu. It took me about 45 seconds just to change my resolution due to the lengthy screen freeze between every change. My optimisation worries dissipated as soon as I got into a race, but I think that’s largely due to the game’s outdated graphics. Honestly, I felt as if I was playing a game from the early 2000s. Chaos Ride’s blocky textures and drab colors (lots of browns and greens in the raceway) left quite a bit to be desired. To be fair, it is an indie title, so it would be unfair to compare the game’s graphics to those of AAA titles. However, the year is 2015, and a certain standard of quality has to be expected. Chaos Ride does not live up to it.

The gameplay of Chaos Ride was similarly lacking. Controlling a “hover-cycle”, players race through long, twisting metal tubes at several hundred kilometers per hour. The game offers you the ability to turn left and right (using the arrow keys) for the possibility of gaining more momentum. It was an interesting feature, but quite limited in execution due to the extremely limited race track.

Racing through a metal tube at breakneck pace was interesting for the first few minutes, but grew very repetitive very quickly. The game offers incentives for doing well in races, such as additional environments and vehicle upgrades. What, though, is the purpose of such rewards when your gameplay experience is basically the same? You’ll still go through the metal tubes in practically the same fashion, and most likely get bored in a very short space of time.

Co-op served to enhance the experience a little bit. Playing with my sister made the game less dull, but she too eventually grew tired of the races’ monotony. This is saying quite a bit, coming from a person whose favorite thing to do is mash the X button (on the Xbox controller) in LEGO games.

Chaos Ride, all in all, did not tickle my fancy. Without a story or worthwhile unlockables, the game drones. I was not able to test out the Oculus Rift setting, but it does sound like it would add a much needed rush to the game. Just holding down the arrow keys to move in one direction doesn’t do the trick on its own.

Were I to recommend this game, I would do so to someone with a younger sibling or cousin who won’t as readily be turned off by the game’s repetition. The co-op added some enjoyability out of an otherwise bland title.