Motorama
Review
Cruisin for a bruisin
by Quinn Levandoski
reviewed on PC
Poor presentation
I was never a big racing guy until about a year ago. Im not sure what changed, but ever since, Ive enjoyed most of them from cart racers to sims and everything in between. That being the case, I was hoping that Id enjoy 251 Games 1950s style retro racing game Motorama more than I did. Unfortunately this title is one that never rises above okay, and frequently slips far lower. The long and short of it is that Motorama feels like a game in early beta. Its a shame, because I think the game could be fine if the game was still in development, but its not, and thats not okay.
Upon initially starting Motorama one of its many (and in my opinion most inexcusable) errors becomes apparent- the games got pretty terrible grammar and punctuation. There are egregious run-on sentences, and they apparently missed the lesson in 3rd grade where we all learned that words like dont or wont need to have apostrophes. Maybe it shouldnt be, but its a big deal to me. When youre putting out a professional product that people are paying for, you need to take the time to proofread your text. Additionally, this is telling of the polish (or lack thereof) in many other areas of the game as well. Another issue that starts in the menus (though they continue into races as well) is that the game only shows controller button prompts whether youre using a controller or keyboard. Its incredibly frustrating. Worse is that theres no Button Layout section in the options, so youre left blindly guessing what the keys are. To be honest I still dont know what the B button is. I have no idea. The obvious alternative would be to at least navigate the menus with the mouse, but for some reason clicking anything on the screen is not allowed. Options are also lacking, with not much more than preset graphics levels and volume options. Lastly, at least before we get into issues with actual gameplay, I need to mention how annoying the music is. Its one song that plays over, and over , and over. Or, if its not the same song, it sounds remarkably close. Through menus, races, everything. It never stops, and its not that great even before if grinds through your ear with pure perseverance.
Artificial Stupidity
The issues with polish, usability, and function continue into the races themselves as well. The racing in its most basic form is actually fairly solid from a mechanical standpoint. Unfortunately the mechanics are put to waste since actually racing is ruined by a number of problems with the AI racers (there is no multiplayer). First, they cheat. On many of the courses there is civilian traffic that you need to avoid at penalty of a nasty time-consuming collision. Thats great, except for the fact that your opponents pass through traffic like ghosts. In what way is that fair? In no ways. Its ludicrous. The other AI issue is that sometimes the drivers appear to suffer sudden and long-lasting seizures. Too frequently opposing drivers will just either turn into a wall and spin out, or start swerving all over the track. I dont know why. Probably because they know they cant hit the pedestrians anyway.
Its Not All Bad
That being said, its not all bad. The cars are cool. While theres certainly not a complete void of options, there arent nearly as many classic 50s American racers as sci fi or modern ones. The cars are cool and do a nice job of, at least visually, representing some of the machines that made American manufacturers famous (though its worth noting that they change the names of the manufacturer names for what I assume were budget reasons). There's also some customization which is fun to play around with, although its nothing deep or elaborate enough to warrant a purchase if you just want a game that lets you tinker with 50s icons. The actual mechanics of racing your car are pretty good too. The cars control well and the courses are interesting enough, if not visually bland.
I didnt like ripping into this game because, like I said above, it seems like if it were a beta release it could be the building blocks of something alright. It isnt a beta though. Its a full retail release, and I dont think that its too much to ask for a game people are paying money for to function properly with a moderate level of polish. While the core driving experience is fine, its almost completely ruined by confusing button prompts, terrible AI decisions and collision glitches, and a number of other polish and usability issues mentioned above. Maybe the developers will see this and patch some things up, but at this point its too late for them to do that and have it be okay. For now, Motorama needs to stay in the garage like the rusty jalopies it so closely resembles.
4.0
fun score
Pros
Cool collection of classic cars, nice feel during races
Cons
Serious grammar issues, button prompts and menu navigation woes, grinding music, bad AI intelligence and collision glitches.
