Overpass 2 Review

I’m a big fan of racing games. I’ll gladly sit and sink hours into laps at Brands Hatch in a circuit racer, I’ll try and find the limits of what any given vehicle can achieve through any number of rally stages and I’ll do my best to whip the end of a car around to maximize my drift points, but what really excites me is when an off-road game comes to light, as whilst track racers and rally racers are available by the dozen, off-roading is still relatively under-promoted in comparison. You’ve got the MudRunner and SnowRunner that do a fantastic job of giving you a sense of gritty off-roading, but until Overpass arrived a few years back there were very few titles that brought proper off-roading to players.

Sadly Overpass wasn’t without issue, but it was a good step in the right direction of delivering a unique off-roading experience to those wanting to replicate the more niche adventures within motorsport. Now it’s time for the sequel, Overpass 2, and whether this follow-up is capable of living up to the expectations.

The biggest attraction is once again the career mode, unless of course you intend to spend all your time with time trials and free-roaming or the occasional multiplayer race, and here you will take on a calendar schedule full of championship events and multiple bonus events, whilst repairs to your vehicle are made in the space between such events. There are also the usual racing career expectancies to be managed here such as sponsorship deals to maintain, vehicle research and development, and the hiring of new team members to help you along the way. 

Bonus events consist of traversing difficult obstacle courses whilst mastering the physics necessary to make it to the end, or navigating short but tricky vertical hill climbs whilst championship events focus more on multi-disciplined racing with far fewer obstacles to take on as you learn to master each of the 3 vehicle types, ATV’s, UTV’s and Rock Bouncers.

Of course, the aim of each event is still to reach the finish line faster than the opposition however doing so won’t have you taking on the speeds of a typical racing game, with the surfaces consisting mostly of mud, gravel, and rocks with the tarmac strips long left behind, with the game focussing on how quick you can align your skill and precision over that of maintaining high speeds and cornering.

Whilst plodding through events at often a snail’s pace, it’s also profitable to put some focus into the varied skill tree on offer too, as skill points spent here will give out a number of different perks that can see vehicle performance upgraded or team ability improved as you push to become more successful when hitting the dirt.

Unfortunately, to see that success though you’ll first have to navigate the awkward controls that come part and parcel of Overpass 2 which sees lag input on each turn of the vehicle strictly forcing players to predict what’s coming next rather than drive accordingly to what’s on-screen in any given moment, whilst camera controls or lack of any reasonable control can make tackling a tricky obstacle feel like a chore rather than a challenge to overcome. 

If that isn’t enough to put you off then the visuals and audio may well do instead, as whilst Overpass 2 is a game created for next-gen consoles, what you see on-screen looks more suited to that of something straight out of the PS2/Xbox 360 era, with dated textures, a lack of detail and a dull color palette only adding to what feels like such a slow and lacking experience all round. And with engines failing to replicate what you would expect to find in vehicles pushing their engines to these extremes, it feels like there could have been a little more time and dedication put into what makes off-roading the experience that it is.

Overpass 2 isn’t a terrible game, but it doesn’t do anything beyond the basics we’ve come to see many times over the years already, and with a lack of innovation, it’s hard to see if this series will be able to stick it out when the likes of SnowRunner are already proving more than capable of delivering what players want.

Conclusion

Overall, Overpass 2 is a game that looks to bring the world of off-roading to players by offering what developer Neopica believes to be an authentic experience, but it does so without offering anything that truly simulates that experience. At best Overpass 2 is an arcade racer in an off-road setting, with events that slow the pace from the typical racing game, but with controls that don’t allow for a reactive play through, you’re instead left frustrated and bored by the midseason races whilst the visuals take us back to the days of Baja: Edge of Control, and as much as that wasn’t a hit when it arrived again in 2017, Overpass 2 won’t be either for 2023.