I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and are not well represented in the top 50 lists on the Xbox Dashboard. Today is day #131, and today’s game is “OSR Unhinged”.
Back on Day 78 I bought and loved a game called “Old School Racer”. Apparently the developers have shortened the title to “OSR” for the sequel, OSR Unhinged. The sequel manages to evolve the formula without losing what made it great in its first outing.
First, from the developer (Riddlersoft):
“Prepare for some really wacky racing! Negotiate gravity fields, race along moving platforms, hop over boiling lava, collect tokens and attempt to become number one in the hall of fame.”
The first thing you’ll notice is that the game engine’s graphics are significantly improved, and these improved visuals are brought to life by 32 courses. You’ll also see six mini games that invoke those of Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis. Some of those tracks are rotating worlds, where you get to defy physics seemingly “just ’cause”, which is OK with me. You’ll also note that sand and snow now make an appearance, with realistic-feeling changes to traction when you hit this kind of terrain. The physics engine now feels really consistent and predictable, too. The ten dirt bikes to choose from all have advantages and disadvantages over the varied terrain and you likely not find yourself sticking with the same bike throughout the entire game, which is a credit to developers when it comes to game balancing.
As with the original OSR, there’s a lot of collecting here as you collect tokens to unlock courses (fairly easy) and the top-of-the-line dirt bikes (fairly hard). It still feels a bit like a superbly upgraded version of the classic Kikstart II for the Commodore 64, and that’s not at all a bad thing. There’s a crazy amount of content here for 80 Microsoft Points, and I can’t recommend this game enough.
Click here to download “OSR Unhinged”, and please come back afterward to rate it.
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