Tearing up terrain with off road vehicles in this rugged arcade style racer.
Intro:
I first played Gravel before I went to work in the early morning. At that time, I thought it was a pretty straight forward, good game, but when I came home, I played a little more and I realized that what I had in front of me was below mediocre. The graphics are not that great and there is no customization whatsoever. Worst of all, the tracks are tiny. The game is basically formed of small unfulfilling races and at the end, you acquire nothing but a different variant color of the car you were using and the next car in line.
The Layout:
The concept of this game is that it is basically a racing TV channel / TV show. As the game begins, you are introduced to a few different people, they are off road racers and the stars of the show. There are different events such as, Stadium Circuit, Wild Rush, Speed Cross and Cross Country. Each driver being the champion of each corresponding event. The goal is to complete these races to get to the champ and take the crown they own. For the most part it's cheesy and only mildly creative. This world that Milestone has supposedly made, in my eyes was a puzzle that will never fit together, let alone stick.
Gameplay:
The gameplay itself is very bland. There's nothing exciting about anything, anywhere on the television screen as I was playing. It seems as if Milestone said hey, lets put an off road game together, put in minimal effort, cause hype for no reason other than sales even though we know this game will not be good at all and give the players no satisfaction of in game rewards. Terrible. When I was using the SUV, Mitsubishi ASX, I could barely see in front of me, causing my capability of vision to be terrible. This also made it hard for me to determine how I was going to turn. Driving the cars did not seem stable or remotely real or accurate. It was almost SO undetailed to the point that I was asking myself, why did they make this game? No expression of freedom in Gravel.
Vehicles:
The vehicle categories are as follows:
SPEED CROSS - MINI COUNTRYMAN RX, VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE RX, HYUNDAI VELOSTER SR TURBO, VOLKSWAGEN POLO RX, FORD FIESTA ST, AND SUBARU WRX STI 2014.
TROPHY TRUCKS - TOYOTA T100, FORD F-150 AND CHEVROLET SILVERADO CK 1500.
EXTREME RACING A - VAUXHALL ASTRA 4S, LANCIA DELTA S4, TOYOTA, 222D AND LANCIA DELTA ECV.
EXTREME RACING B - PORSCHE 911 RSR RALLYE, LANCIA STRATOS, LANCIA 037 RALLY, RENAULT R5 MAXI TURBO, FORD RS 200 AND PORSCHE 959 RALLYE.
EXTREME RACING C - TOYOTA CELICA TURBO 4WD, SUBARU IMPREZA 1995, FORD ESCORT RS 1800 MKII, MITSUBSHI EVOLUTION 6, SUBURA IMPREZA 2003, FORD ESCORT RS COSWORTH, ABARTH 124 RALLY 2016, LANCIA DELTA INTEGRALE EVOLUZIONE AND FORD FOCUS RS.
EXTREME RACING D - ABARTH 124 RALLY, ABRATH 131 RALLY, ALPINE A110 1800 GROUPE 4 - EAST AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY, TOYOTA GT86 CS-R3, MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X, SUBARU WRX STI 2015 AND PORCHE 924 GTS RALLYE.
CROSS COUNTRY B - MITSUBISHI PAJERO, SUZUKI GRAND VITARA COUNTRY CROSS, BMW X3 CC, TOYOTA LANDCRUISER AND PORSCHE CAYENNE TRANSSYBERIA.
CROSS COUNTRY A - MITSUBISHI ASX, CHEVORLET HUMMER H3 CUSTOM, FORD RANGER T6, RENAULT DUSTER, VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG 3, NISSAN NARVA, TOYOTA HILUX, MINI X-RAID ALL4RACING.
Conclusion:
I would hate for someone to feel hype about this game, thinking there is going to be so much to do with this game, to get home start playing and winning a couple of games only to find out there really isn't any reward for playing this game. Whether it be mentally or digitally. I give every game a fair shot, as did I with this game as well.. Bottom line is that this game just really isn't worth getting. If I can save someone the trouble and irritation of buying a game that, really in all honesty, shouldn't have even been made, then that is what I'll do.