The reason it's hard to be positive about Off Road is that even when it works and there are no gripes as such, it's still a horribly average experience, almost as though there's been a concerted effort to produce mediocrity. Yes, at £19.99 it's a budget game but that shouldn't be an excuse to create something that's only memorable when it irritates, especially when there's numerous quality driving games out there that can be picked up for less these days.
As such, it's difficult to see what type of gamer Off Road will appeal to, as even those attracted by the Ford and Land Rover licences will be disappointed to discover a lowly 18 vehicles to choose from. Essentially, only someone willing to lower their expectations to match the lowly ambitions of the whole project will step out of this vehicle feeling in any way satisfied.
Audio/Visual - 5
Gameplay - 5
Value - 5
Innovation - 3
Overall -
Ever wanted to race those big old 4x4s? No probably not, but Ford and Land Rover obviously want to big up their brand names, and a good way to do that is to show how cool their cars are in a video game. Eighteen vehicles are at your command over desert, water and ice environments.
With $10,000 in the bank, you must first enter the showroom to choose from one of four vehicles. The rest of the cars are unlocked depending on how well you race and how much money you win. Once you've picked your Ranger, Bronco, Defender or Escape, you are given no less than five (yes, five) modes of play.
Videogamer writes: "With such a simple name, you'd think that Off Road would do exactly what it says on the tin, but shelve those desires to careen carefree off the track and out into a wonderful open-world racer because, sadly, it isn't quite so.
Off Road, crucially, does not allow you to go off road. OK, technically, you're not on a road to begin with, just a series of 24 tracks over three environments split into desert, water and ice. There certainly aren't any traffic wardens or cycle lanes, but just try straying from the designated route for a second and you'll quickly hit an invisible wall, discovering that this game goes about as far off the tracks as your average monorail."
Off Road on Wii does just that, it drives off road and straight into a ditch but can't get out of it. It lacks anything original, handles poorly and looks fairly bad too. Avoid unless you have some weird thing about 4x4's.
Presentation - 6.0
Gameplay - 6.0
Audio - 5.0
Visuals - 6.0
Overall -
