[PS4] DRIVECLUB

[Swarley]

Here's my review over at Gamer Assault Weekly:
http://www.gamerassaultweekly.com/2014/10/13/driveclub-review/

This fall is packed with different types of racing games such as Microsoft’s open-world arcade racer Forza Horizon 2, Ubisoft’s MMORPG The Crew, and the racing-simulation from Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS. Here we have the PlayStation 4 exclusive DRIVECLUB, developed by Evolution Studios. The question that many racing fans are asking is, “Which racing game is right for me this fall?”

First off, let’s dive into what DRIVECLUB is as a racing game. Is it a sim? Is it arcade? Well let’s get one thing clear right off the bat; it’s definitely not a sim-racer. You cannot change parts in/on your car, you can’t tune them by changing the gearing ratio, adjusting tire pressures, adjusting your aero, or even vehicle damage beyond cosmetic. So this game is absolutely an arcade racer. However, that genre title can sometimes carry some negative connotations with some racing fans. While this IS an arcade racer, it’s not in the same circle as something like last year’s Need for Speed: Rivals where the focus is on nitrous power-sliding every corner and taking out the other cars around you to gain an advantage. This game’s physics are more grounded than most in the arcade genre, while still giving you the ability to slide the car through some corners when desired.

Now that you kind of understand where DRIVECLUB sits genre-wise and with its physics, let me dive into the actual racing and the gameplay.

There are three types of events on three types of tracks. You can do a time trial, drift event, or a typical race on a point-to-point course, street course, or traditional enclosed road course racetrack. You will come across all of these in the Tour mode, the game’s main single-player mode. Time trials and drift events are pretty straight forward, so I’ll skip right into what you’ll encounter when jumping into a race with AI drivers. When you’re in a normal race, one with other cars (usually around 10-12), you start toward the back or in last place as you would with most other racing games. Right away you can tell the game wants to dissuade dirty racing like dive-bombing corners and using the other cars as a bumper barrier, and also cutting corners. If you do these things, you will likely lose points or possibly even get a short time penalty where the game limits your car’s speed. As someone who has played all sorts of racing games, it’s nice to see an arcade racer that doesn’t focus on the destruction of cars, because come on… I love cars and I hate to see them destroyed! However, the corner cutting penalties is where I think this game starts to take itself a little too seriously. They blatantly leave open areas off of turns that could be used. They’ve already made it so running off the track and hitting curbs is tough on the car since it upsets the balance and can easily cost you big time. Completely taking away the option to throw your car down on the grass or gravel through a turn to possibly gain an advantage on your fellow racer seems to take away some of the fun from an arcade racer. If this were a sim-racer, of course that would be a no-no, but as an arcade racer, I feel like you should be able to throw your car into positions and places that you otherwise wouldn’t.

As far as modes go in the game, there are three. You can do Single Event, Multiplayer, or Tour. In Single Event, you can choose to do whatever you want. You can choose any track and layout that you want, and you can do so by doing any of the three types of events that I previously talked about. You will still gain points towards your driver level while racing in this mode, which can be nice if you have a favorite circuit that you want to run. I found myself running a handful of events in this mode while grinding for some points to level up to unlock a car. There’s the Tour mode, which is the main single-player mode where you do different themed events and work your way up to get to championship races. In this mode you start out with slower cars like hatchbacks and work your way up to faster cars and higher tier events. In this mode, there are other objectives to races besides just finishing well. You have three objectives per race, which usually include a finishing position, a lap time, and then something else like a clean line through a corner, drifting through a certain corner, or running a clean lap. For each objective that you complete, you earn a gold star. You need a certain amount of gold stars to unlock each tier of events and championship events. Once you get later in the Tour mode, it’s very likely that you’ll have to go back to grind for some of those objectives that you missed out on. I actually really liked this aspect. Having additional objectives for each Tour event gives it quite a bit of replayability. If I didn’t need some extra gold stars to unlock the final championship event, I may have never returned to some of those earlier events. Now for the big letdown… online Multiplayer. We’re a week out from the release of this game, and I still haven’t been able to compete in an online event. I was able to connect to the servers long enough to create a club, and then that was it. The amount of problems they are having with their servers is unfortunate because of how much this game was marketed as being a social game.

Of course we need to talk about the cars, because what is a racing game without some awesome cars, right? If you’re a fan of European cars, then you will likely enjoy what DRIVECLUB has in its garage. If you’re an American or Japanese car lover, well, you’re out of luck. There are plenty of car types as well, ranging from hatchbacks like the Mini Cooper and Renault Clio to the small sports cars like the Lotus Evora (my favorite car in the game) and Audi TT to supercars and hypercars like the Ferrari California, RUF RT12, and Hennessey Venom. For those that love their American muscle or something like the Nissan GT-R or Honda NSX from Japan, you’ll have to find them somewhere else. There is one American car in the lineup, which is the Hennessey Venom GT, but as car enthusiasts know, while it is manufactured here in the United States, it’s just a heavily modified Lotus Exige, which is a British car. One thing I loved about this game is that you can definitely tell when driving a car if it’s RWD, FWD, or AWD. The cars feel different, as they should, and that’s not something you always get in an arcade racer. As for modifications, this game does not offer car upgrades and modifications that you may see in super arcade-y racers or tuner arcade racers. Instead of offering the car upgrades, this game relies more on leveling up and unlocking newer, better cars. You can unlock and use a wide variety of paint schemes, which definitely give you a sense of personalization. However, it seems like a lost opportunity to not offer some sort of paint shop like in the Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon series’. It would go a long way in the social aspect to let the players create unique paint jobs and let them share them on social media.

As for the graphics, it looks beautiful. Evolution did a great job in this aspect. The lighting details look great, whether you’re being blinded by the sun, racing at night or racing under cloudy skies. One of my favorite things about the graphics was coming over the crest of a hill and being blinded by the sun (I’m actually being serious here). The sun effects were done perfectly and feel true to life. Particle effects were something else that I noticed immediately. Confetti, trash, leaves; it all looked great and reacted well with cars passing by on the track. It just added in that extra bit immersion. Most of the vistas look spectacular, especially the circuits in Canada that are located out in the mountains and valleys. My favorite place to run was the point-to-point circuits in India. The combination of nature, small shantytowns, and the tight twists in the mountains just made for some incredible visuals and races.

Overall, DRIVECLUB is a competent arcade racer. It does a number of things well including more grounded physics than you see in many games in this genre, beautiful locations, and a fun Tour mode. Sometimes I feel like the game can take itself a little too seriously with corner cutting time penalties and the more traditional road course racetracks that take away from the beautiful scenery that you get on other circuits, because after all, this is an arcade racer. One thing that left a bad taste in my mouth was the amount of drift events that were implemented into the Tour mode. It’s just my personal opinion, but I HATE drifting with a passion and I don’t think it should be a motorsport (calm down, drifters). The server issues that have plagued the game since its launch have been really disappointing since online is a huge part of any racing game. DRIVECLUB delivers some fun racing, but ultimately does nothing to make itself stand out in a season that is packed with numerous racing titles. Had the online servers allowed me to race in some multiplayer races of any kind, I probably would have boosted the review score a bit, but for a game that’s supposed to be all about the social aspect to have this major of a problem is quite disappointing.

SUMMARY:
DRIVECLUB offers a clean and competent look at the arcade racer genre. A more grounded physics engine and a game that doesn't rely on destroying the cars around you. Beautiful countrysides and circuits offer some great eye candy and the there is a lot of replayability due to the numerous event objectives. The game can takes itself a little too seriously at times with time penalties and it's a little disappointing not to see some major car manufacturers from the U.S. and Japan.

The Good:
• Grounded physics
• Beautiful circuits
• Tour mode objectives offer a lot of replayability

The Bad:
• Can take itself too seriously at times
• No cars from big manufacturers in United States or Japan
• Major online server issues at launch

SCORE:
6.5/10

 

[Handleit_44]