On paper RoadOut is the dream game of my teens – a 2D open world game set in a neon-coloured Mad Max setting. There is a combination of driving and shooting, and exploring grid-based dungeons and fighting enemies on foot.
It is a neat idea, that is made even more compelling by the fact that there is a faction dynamic – completing (or failing) missions for different factions will increase and decrease standings with the warring elements of this post-apocalypse.
That concept is helped by the visuals being top notch – although the in-action sections are lower detail – the short cutscenes and the points where the lead talks with other characters have a fantastic level of detail.
Starting out, the protagonist Claire has had the power cell from her car stolen, and her mission to deliver a mysterious package has been upended as she is stranded outside a scavenger outpost. Equipped with a pipe and a shield, she marches into the outpost to power up her car.
The dungeon exploration is where RoadOut excels. The dungeons are divided up into rooms with distinct puzzles and fight scenarios. New abilities are drip fed over the first dungeon – a dash, a charge attack, and shield push – and these deliver meaningful new tactics in the combat. This is especially emphasised in the boss fight at the end with a need for good use of the dash and shield push.
I think RoadOut’s on foot section would be a good standalone title. I say that because my problems arose once I got in the car.
The driving controls never gelled for me. The triggers are used for accelerating and braking, but the steering was linked to cardinal directions. This means that pushing up, no matter the orientation of the vehicle will make it turn North; because the car is not a Tron cycle it doesn’t instantly turn in that direction and instead drifts that way in an emulation of physics.
This probably works really well on a keyboard where there is a true and easy way to point a car in that direction, but on my controller, I found it to be a deeply miserable experience with it sometimes not aligning properly and my car almost always being slightly ‘off’ with the car tilting away from the direction I wanted to head in, and correcting that tangent usually sent my vehicle hurtling into a wall.
In the open world exploration this is a nuisance that had me constantly adjusting, over adjusting, then over-counter adjusting. It made me less interested in driving around the world but it was something I could put up with. I got into a few car duels and resigned myself to being annoyed by it but not enough for me to give up the sweet premise of my two dimensional Road Warrior dreams.
However, RoadOut then decided to introduce race missions where being good at steering becomes essential. This turned a frustration into a complete hatred of the controls. I looked through the pause menu to see if there were any alternate controls systems, or a way to simplify into more of an 8-way directional control that might avoid the tilting, but no luck.
I think that, maybe, the game is much more enjoyable on PC, but RoadOut was almost unplayable for any of the driving missions on XBOX. I feel bad that I did not finish this title, but I think that it would have been torture to do so.
Conclusion
RoadOut is a fantastic premise with an excellent visual style that is let down by deeply frustrating (verging on unplayable) driving controls.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
