Better with a controller
Joy Ride was first announced as a freemium game for Xbox Live arcade, but eventually turned into a Kinect-exclusive title. With Joy Ride Turbo, the controller is back in your hands, and you’ll want it to be there – Turbo is a lot of fun to play. The game features simple pick-up-and-play controls, pleasing visuals, and a nice albeit small collection of cars to use on the tracks. Avatar support is in this game as well, so you’ll be speeding through the tracks with your created avatar as you attempt to place 1st in the levels.
The gameplay is very reminiscent of Mario Kart in the fact that there are crates in the levels that will provide a random power-up to use, which can turn the favor over to you in your quest to get in front of everyone else. Turbo boost, shields, rockets, and traps are some of the main power-ups, and each is pretty useful and balanced.
Drifting is another part of the game, and extra boost is earned when you perform a successful drift. Once you get airborne due the many ramps in the game, you’ll be able to perform simple stunts with either the left or right analog stick, which provide another way to earn even more boost.
While Joy Ride Turbo is fun by yourself, the game is even more enjoyable with others. Up to eight players can play via Xbox Live and 4 player support is available for splits-screen. The modes in the game are all pretty fun. There’s the usual race mode, battle mode, and a stunt park mode, allowing you to drive around a map full of ramps, boosts, and extra coins to find. The coins help you purchase new colors for the vehicles, while collecting scattered spare parts in the game will unlock new cars.
Speaking of the vehicles, you’ll be able to race either with Muscle, Sports, or Trucks vehicles and each offer up different gameplay as you would expect. For example, sport cars are fast and handle well, but Trucks have more turbo slots to use boost. There are different tournaments in the game, and each are separated by vehicle type.
For $10 (800 MSP), Joy Ride Turbo is a full Racer that is fun for all ages. It’s the closes thing the 360 has to Mario Kart, and its fun to drive around as your avatar, so you can’t go wrong.
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