Super Toy Cars Offroad Review

Super Toy Cars Offroad released on the 18^th of February, 2022, and is developed and published by Eclipse Games. This is the same series of their past Super Toy Cars (STC) games which released in 2015 and 2020 respectively. Those games took place in a playroom setting where you controlled a small toy car, such as that of a Hotwheels, and would navigate through the built course. Fun and nostalgic like for those of us who may have really enjoyed playing with toy vehicles as children. Their marketing strategy for this game is revisiting those youthful times and enjoying an easy racer, sadly this is not the feeling I experienced while playing this Arcade Racer. The game has some flaws and comparing to their predecessors, this title lacked the same amount of time that went into development and smoothing out the rough edges.

The gameplay for this Arcade Racer is simple enough; race through the events to win. There are the basics like classic race, elimination, time trial, drifting challenges, and a couple more from the past games. There are 15 maps to pick from which all take place outside this time either in a backyard, a beach, or a construction site. Saying 15 maps is in the game is technically true, however the maps are sometimes just mirrored in reverse and the time of day is altered, small changes like this is an easy way to pad the track list. This normally wouldn’t bug me, but it does for a game where you can race one direction and win and the next event it becomes mirrored and you have small bugs that throw your vehicle around. The construction site in particular threw me around as I was drifting normally and would launch my vehicle if I hit a wooden platform just right, which was a part of the track.

Vehicles can be destroyed and the player can hold Y to respawn. The respawning mechanics aren’t auto and if not quick enough you could fall way behind the leaders. The mechanics of this little racer are bumpy, granted it is offroad, but there are trails to follow with secret paths to take if the player notices them. These secret paths are key to winning the races just like other arcade racers, but aren’t required. You ultimately need some luck to win every event in this game on top of skill to avoid environmental hazards. The power ups in the game are unchanged from the past games and still don’t function as well as they could. The missile pickup will go directly towards the next car which does tend to hit other objects and walls. The large magnet and ball used to throw at other cars are still just as hard to get a hit with. The boost is the best power up since most of the game you will be trying to maintain your speed. It’s sad when an arcade racer has power ups but they don’t affect the gameplay much apart from Elimination races. Even during those I found myself dying more to map hazards than other players.

There are 20 vehicles the player can choose from to use and most are unlocked by finishing a cup, but must be purchased with cogs (currency). Cogs are rewarded for finishing events in each cup so will come naturally. There are other rewards for finishing a cup such as: paint jobs, character models for our driver, and some outfits for them. Since winning is not required for each of the 45 cups, it makes it more bearable to get through. You only need to finish in the top 3 to receive credit for the cup and moving on to the next in the line. There are 5 different classes of cups, each one consisting of 8 cups per genre. A cup on average is 2 events long, but can be one or up to three events in a single cup.

I genuinely didn’t have as much fun as I did like in the past STC games and I think that’s due to the fact of how smooth the tracks were in past games. Yes, there was an occasional rug in the way, but it was easier to maintain momentum due to how flat everything was. This new entry in the series being exclusively offroad throws some vehicles around more than others. Each genre of a cup will require a type of vehicle and they can vary in size and speed affecting their stats and performance, but must be used to unlock better vehicles in that class. Some cars made the gameplay seem really fun at times, until you become reminded of how bad the track design can be. I slammed into a few invisible barriers across the different tracks each resulting from bad design on hitboxes throwing my vehicle around forcing a quick respawn. You truly do have to learn the tracks to know where to drift to next and what to avoid, whether it’s debris on the track or apart of the track’s hazards like the hammers on the construction track, or even the actual road itself being the issue. The player has a lot to overcome and must have the persistence to keep at it.

Apart from the career mode filled with 45 cups, is split screen which you will have more fun with friends. This is accessed at the main menu using quick race option. Overall, the physics for the game hasn’t been improved upon, in fact it seems degraded. The second game in the series improved itself with better function drifting, drifting is a simple way to win races in this series since it grants a large speed boost while drifting and is easy to steer during a drift, but the boost after ending a successful drift can be cancelled if too quick to start a new drift again. The drifting seems to be the same in Offroad as it was in STC2.

Last thing I’ll touch on for gameplay is the Auto drive settings. When the Auto drive and Steer options are enabled, which are typically intended for children, I found the AI crashing a lot even with me fighting the controls to help it stay on course. I believe this feature doesn’t work as well as it could and it’s due to the AI having a hard time managing the bumpy tracks just as the player would. The AI also suffers when it comes to making quick turns repeatedly, which is on every track in the game. This feature shouldn’t really be in the game unless it’s going to be improved.

The sound design hasn’t changed much from prior games in the series and include some Rock songs that sound more pop rock from early 2000’s. The songs are G rated and appropriate for kids to hear unless they are analyzing lyrics deeply. My favorite song from playing through the game was ‘Slam Van’ which is actually a Song by The Spin Wires and was included in Super Toy Cars 2, hard to forget that song. Most of the songs are from that band and they also have done covers. The general sound design for cars sound effects were improved upon, they are no longer monotone and do have a range dependent upon acceleration. Some of the new levels also have new sounds for hazards like the loud compressor.

The visuals for this game are simplistic. It’s a miniature car being controlled in a large world with many obstacles to dodge along the way. The game looks similar to past games in the series but the visuals were expanded more in this title. The fact that its all-new settings mean new assets that aren’t being recycled and reused. There are some items returning, but the new tracks have unique debris scattered around and have different aesthetics. Offroad is all outside is by majority driven during the day time to make learning tracks easier. The general look for the cars looks more similar to remote controlled vehicles than toy cars this time around. Generally, the visuals and Audio have improved from past games, but we lost quality on the gameplay side with the new additions of cosmetics.

The longevity for Super Toy Cars Offroad is quite low for what you’re spending. The game will take roughly 6 hours to finish all cups being skill and luck dependent. If you’re a completionist and enjoy earning a full 1000 gamerscore with a game’s achievements, then this won’t take much longer than that (10 hours). The player will have to win 100 events while playing, but since cups only need to be finished in the top three, this may be the last achievement you will have to work on in quick race mode. Just finishing all the Cups should unlock everything else including 500 power ups used and 500 miles driven. The fact that there are unlocks to earn does add to the playtime, but the longer someone plays this Indie title, the more frustrated they may become dealing with the poor physics.

Conclusion

Overall, Super Toy Cars Offroad is just not good, at least not for me. I enjoy a goofy arcade racer intended for children occasionally and love classics like Mario Kart and Cruisin’ USA. This sadly lowered the bar of expectations for me from this developer in their near future. The last game took around 4-5 years to develop while this one was less than two years. It feels rushed when racing through the tracks and learning the levels becomes a chore with trying to manage the dreadful physics on top of normal map memorization. This makes it even more luck based having one lap work flawlessly, then getting thrown around and hitting invisible hitboxes taking the same path lap 2. At least the power ups aren’t overpowered and not a huge threat, which is sad to say about any racer with item usage and combat mechanics. The game isn’t hard, just needs more polishing to work out the issues. I would pick this game up only on new game sale if you love this genre or wait for a better sale in the future. You would have more fun just playing the second Super Toy Cars game, as I believe that’s the best entry yet. The shoddy gameplay for Offroad allows the music and visuals to outshine, even if they aren’t a beacon of light to bathe in.