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News: Tom Morello stars in Guitar Hero III
Activision has announced that Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Click here to read the article.
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Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder
Originality is not dead. At least not for King of the Jungle and Encore. They’ve brought us Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder. Yes, you read correctly: Slot Car! If you are a guy or a girl who has brothers then you probably played with slot car racing sets. They were racing sets consisting of track with grooves in them where you would place your car and with the press of a single button, you would race your opponent. They were extremely simple, yet extremely fun!
Now the memories of childhood past return to Xbox for a value price of only $19.99. Grooverider consists of 3 difficulty modes: 3, 6, and 9 volts. The more volts, the faster your car will go. 20 tracks in 5 different locations such as a bedroom and a kitchen. Play by yourself of with up to 3 other people in split-screen multiplayer! As you race you will be able to unlock 20 vehicles ranging from race cars to muscle cars. So as you can see, for a measly $20 you will have plenty to do.
Controlling your car is incredibly easy but at the same time incredibly challenging. You use the Left Thumbstick to Accelerate (UP) and to Brake (DOWN). The A button allows you to use a power-up. The B Button allows you to look back. The Y button changes the camera. The X button discards any item you may have on you. The challenging part comes when you have to constantly have to switch lanes during a race. The Left Trigger moves you to the left and the Right Trigger moves you to the right. Sure it sounds easy, but once you have 3 opponents, power-ups, road blocks, jumps, etc to deal with, it becomes challenging. The good thing about it is that while it may be challenging, it is enjoyable. Suspense will build up because you never know what obstacle will be around the corner!
Visually, Grooverider won’t win any awards, but for a budget $20 game it gets the job done. Environments are nicely detailed and quite large. Vehicles are modeled satisfactorily with enough detail to soothe the eye.
Sound is what you would probably expect. Bland effects and bad music. Thankfully you can use your own custom soundtrack! Which leaves me wondering; how come a $20 game has the custom soundtrack option and other big budget ‘blockbusters’ don’t? Laziness? I think so.
Overall, Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder is a fun game that is well worth the budget price. Great multiplayer alone is worth the price of admission. Could this game be a sign of the comeback of Slot Cars? I sure hope so.
Report Card:
Gameplay = 8
Graphics = 7
Audio = 6
Replay Value = 7
Overall: 7/10
Click here for the Grooverider screenshots gallery!
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