Games
Seven awesome features Criterion Games need to include in their ambitious all-vehicle racer.
What do you do if you’ve made some of the best racing games ever? If you’re Criterion Games, you ditch the format altogether and do something completely different – and that’s exactly what Beyond Cars is. Simply put, Beyond Cars promises to be exactly what it sounds like; a game that goes beyond four-wheeled racing and gives you access to almost anything with a motor. Quadbikes? Check. Helicopters? Check. Motorcross bikes? Check. Speedboats? Yup.
Two years ago the studio responsible for classic games like Burnout and Need For Speed announced it was going to do something different, and we even got to see a sneak peak of some gameplay – but the trail has gone quiet since then. Fast forward to 2016, and we’ve heard a few more whispers of Beyond Cars, and Criterion Games still says it’s actually going to happen. But what will it need to compete with Criterion's past classics? Here are seven things Beyond Cars needs to match up to Criterion’s best.
Ridiculous frame rate please
We love arcade racers like Need For Speed and Burnout, and they’re great not just because of their super-fast cars or their great soundtracks, but because of the sense of speed you get when flying through traffic. Whether it’s a combination of a super-slick frame rate, or just tunnel-vision style motion blur, Criterion are experts at giving you a great sense of speed. If Beyond Cars really wants to capture our imagination and do its vehicles justice, it’ll need to give gamers the same sense of speed as classics like Burnout – fingers crossed the game can take full advantage of the souped-up PS4K too.
Virtual reality support
2016 is shaping up to be the year of virtual reality, and while the immersvie new medium is great for first person shooters or horror games, VR support adds even more to the racing experience. That’s why we think Beyond Cars should include some serious PS VR support. Racing around a desert island on motorcross bikes and quadbikes sounds great, but imagine a game where you can also look across at your competitors, or look around the next corner. Amazing.
Big crashes
Burnout and Need For Speed are great games – not just for their racing, but for their crashes. Although it’s fun when you’re hitting apex, and weaving through traffic with ease, Burnout went out of its way to make things just as fun when you went wrong, and we want to see something similar in Beyond Cars, which has a clear cartoonish vibe. We’ve already got enough realistic racing sims right now, so let’s see something that lets you enjoy when things go wrong. Whether it’s watching your motocross bike disintegrate or watching your quad bike showered with sparks, it’ll be cool to see the over-the-top crashes we love in Burnout and Need For Speed in Beyond Cars.
Nail the handling
If you’re going to give gamers a wealth of vehicular options, you better make them fun to play with – and that means nailing the handling. It’s hard, but other games have done it. Driveclub’s DLC successfully added bikes to the PS4 racer; Grand Theft Auto isn’t even a driving game as such, but it makes it fun to play as cars or bikes or scooters, while Far Cry makes using a wingsuit fun. Simply put, how the vehicles handle will make or break Beyond Cars. Criterion needs to make sure the motocross bikes are just as fun to handle as say, the helicopters, or the game won’t be as fun to play.
Keep the rules simple
It’s great having a range of vehicles but with more options comes greater confusion. What we want is a game that gives us the chance to play with a range of ridiculous vehicles. What we don’t want is a game that makes it confusing to compete. What happens if you’re in a helicopter and you’re racing a dirt bike? How will the race track compensate for one player flying and another on a jet ski? If Beyond Cars is to work it’ll need to ensure all its vehicles are easily managed, and also make sure it’s easy to race them against each other.
On top of that, persistent online games have really struggled in recent months – Driveclub’s online technical issues were so bad that Sony ultimately closed the studio, while Ubisoft have struggled to keep balance in The Division, with players finding powerful exploits that have to be rapidly patched out. Hopefully Criterion can avoid these issues with the benefit of hindsight.
We want fun DLC
DLC expansion packs aren’t always appreciated by fans – especially when a game feels half finished, but a good DLC can often inject some new excitement into a game. Project CARS regularly gives its community new cars, while DiRT Rally’s Pikes Peak DLC also added a new, exciting aspect to an already vast garage of cars. Sure, Beyond Cars will probably have a huge scope of vehicles at its disposal, but it’d be great to see it with a whole host of new content every month. Whether it’s something from Mad Max or Batman or just even more vehicles for you to try, Criterion Games need to keep things fresh.
An engaging soundtrack
We’re on the fence with the Burnout soundtracks, but the Need For Speed series has some of the best tunes you’ll hear in a game. In fact racing games have always been known for their great soundtracks, with titles like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport showing some serious selection skills. If Beyond Cars really wants to be one of the best racing games as well, Criterion will need to make sure it comes with a fast-paced, but perfectly-suited soundtrack.
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