FutureGrind | PS4 Review

Publisher: Milkbag Games
Developer: Milkbag Games
PS4 Review

*Disclaimer: I was sent the code for this game in return for a review, all opinions are mine and mine alone.

Games that involve any type of driving aren't my forte but I try to give them my best in order to give a fair opinion on them even if I suck at them, FutureGrind is one such game, when I first saw the trailer it appealed to me mostly because of the tasks you have to perform and I wanted to give it a go for myself which I was given the chance to do, it's a game mostly about skill forcing you to concentrate on your every move, one little slip up can cause you to crash. FutureGrind gives off an Extreme G racing vibe, I used to play that game a lot as a kid because it was one of the only racing games I felt I could drive in a straight line in, FutureGrind is more of a simplified bike game with the light elements that Extreme G racing has.

The game installed pretty fast so I was able to delve straight into it and experience it first hand, the menu is very simple with only and surprisingly comes with an assist mode, this mode allows you to modify the rules of the game to make it easier, playing first hand with this mode off I can tell you it's a welcomed feature the only downfall is they kind of punish you for using this mode, when you have it on you can still complete assignments but high scores won't be saved or submitted to the leaderboards. You can also enable safe wheels which will allow you to touch the rails with either wheel. Another Accessibility feature they have is the colour blind mode, this allows the player to set the wheels to a colour of their choosing that will work best for them and you will also find the control guide within the accessibility section of the menu.

I tried the assist mode out and it honestly makes a lot of difference, especially if you can't keep up with the speed of the game but it's not very forgiving when it comes to trying to perform tricks, the aim of the game is to complete the track without crashing at first but then you're given two other tasks on that track to complete, you only have to complete one in order to move on to the next track. You will be given the chance to play through a tutorial, it's pretty short but it gives the player an idea of the game, in fact you're given a chance to play a tutorial each time you're given a new bike to play on a new track which helped me get used to how the bike moved.

To complete the track you must spin your bike to the right colour wheel to touch the track that matches the colour, white is neutral so you're able to jump on that with any colour wheel, some tasks involve you having to miss out the white tracks which forces you to time your spins and jumps perfectly so you don't crash or land on the wrong colour, if you do your bike blows up and you're given the option of starting again or going back to the menu.

The handy thing about the side tasks is that you're given a preview of how to complete it, it's not as simple as the previews though and I crashed more times than I landed when trying them out, one thing I found cool is that when you crash the music doesn't stop and start again, it's actually in a constant loop and carries on when you restart the track. The music is very techno and tries to hype you up to make you feel like you can accomplish that track, along with the aesthetically pleasing graphics which are very bright and colourful thanks to the neon tracks and bikes. Once you have completed a track and the tasks you can go back and play it as many times as you want, in between each level someone will pop up to give you instructions on what to do next so you can show how the bike you're using at that time performs, the people who pop up are reps from different places, for example, Holiday and Old Town are the first 2 tracks and Ada from Slice interacts with you on the levels.

My biggest issue with the game is that it felt repetitive, I didn't feel as invested in the game I thought I would even though I found myself needing to complete a track, I admittedly struggled with the flips as it takes a while to warm up on the track for me but I got passed them in the end. Whilst unlocking tracks you also add more information to the Grindtopia menu which reminds on you of how to do tricks and the basics and much more! Overall the game is pleasing to the eyes, the soundtrack leaves you wanting to get through the track as best as you can to try and score high on the scoreboard, the only let down is even though it's packed full of tracks it's very repetitive so I give this game 3/5 stars.