Stay away from this disappointing Xbox Live title.
Overall Score: 2/5
This game fails on all three levels: gameplay, presentation, and lasting value!
Gameplay: 2/5
First, the control scheme is painful. Controlling your vehicle is a challenge. You also lack an e-brake (so you can’t exactly drift around corners), and if you hit reverse while moving forward, the car unrealistically stops super fast. There’s also very little precision in the handling, and everything is moving so fast that you can’t really keep your car in control. The mini-map in the upper right hand corner is absolutely useless, since you have to stare at it for at least five seconds before it makes any sense. The only redeeming quality about the game is the nice variation between levels, the decent power-ups and weapons that can be used, and the selection of vehicles.
Presentation: 2/5
It doesn’t feel like the game has the smoothest frame rate at all, and when that combines with the chaotic fast action, the game becomes tougher to play. And as I mentioned, the mini-map is terrible, since it’s so tough to identify which arrow is yours and impossible to tell what turns lie ahead of you. At least the music is decent.
Lasting Value: 2/5
Playing each level once will take you about 50 minutes. There’s no reason to replay levels, since the game completely lacks a scoring system, and doesn’t even keep track of what place you came in on each level. Even if you get first place, you don’t feel happy about it at all since there’s no way of showing or remembering that you won! There’s a “Gather” mode, which is exactly the same as the normal mode except you also try to collect arrowheads for a score. The only place you can see that score is in the leaderboards. I don’t know what stone the developers have been living under, but every good game ALWAYS shows you what place you came in on each level, and gives you medals for finishing first, or at least has a star rating system!
Title: Cro-Mag Rally
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios