I have to start this review off by saying I had no idea that today was the release date for the winner of that Unlock Xbox contest that was held what seems like forever ago. I also had no clue that the game would be free. And lastly, I definitely did not expect the game to actually be fun… but not completely flawless.. read on…
Developed by Mike Borland, who ended up partnering up with NinjaBee (A Kingdom for Keflings, Cloning Clyde) for the final version of the game, brings us one of those pick-up-and-play-no-story type games that is fairly original. The spamming sponsoring by Doritos does not get in the way of the title at all and in fact brings a little reasoning to this odd concept, where you play as either a Doritos truck or a T-Rex. A Doritos truck needs to deliver the chips and a T-Rex needs to eat.
As we know, all dinosaurs like to eat Doritos, your T-Rex is no exception. Of course I picked to play as the T-Rex first, where I am thrown into a little city with the instructions to get those trucks. So after you crash through some buildings for no other reason than they exist, you will find that chasing down the trucks as a bad ass going through basically anything in your path. For the most part everything in the game is destructible, so in that way you may feel the game is slightly Rampage inspired, except of course this is a goal oriented event.
Controls are very simple, you press “A” or “RT” to do a little dash/smash and “B” or “LT” if you want to roar. Graphics are actually pretty decent, it is like a Nintendo 64 game without the fog or blur or blockiness (which pretty much negates me thinking it is like an N64 game). The game runs rather smooth, no hiccups or freezes at all and the T-Rex itself handles as though it has some weight to it.
As you beat each level, you get a little upgrade for your T-Rex, becoming speedier and slightly stronger. In later levels another T-Rex shows up as competition to make sure you work your hardest to eat those trucks. Before you know it though, the fun is done. Lasting only 6 levels, it tells you to move onto playing as the truck.
ProTip! Get ready to fire up a custom soundtrack, as the light metal techo might get annoying very quickly.
The truck has you rushing to deliver those tasty chips while trying to avoid the T-Rex. The truck controls tightly and kind of reminds me of Super Off Road. The controls are the same as the dinosaur except you honk instead of roar. The level ups for the trucks make you a little speedier and give you extra turbo boosts. Also like the rex levels, you find yourself having some competition of another truck on the road as well as an extra dinosaur to avoid. Much like when you play as the T-Rex, before you know it, the game is done. That is when you find the flaw with the Dash of Destruction.
Achievement whores, be quick to download this game, as within the first couple of minutes you’ll have yourself some points, and luckily this free game isn’t an embarrassment to have on your Gamerscore like Yaris.
Multiplayer
Is not Live enabled, you have to physically have someone with you to play (boo), I will update this review next time my brother is at my house.
In conclusion: It is hard to give this game a rating. I want to say it is a 5 on the fun factor of it all, but then a 3 with the shortness of it all. This game is just so so short. Within one half hour, you can have the game completed and seen all there is to see. Don’t get me wrong, that half hour is fun as all hell and even bring some smiles with the silliness of the upgrades (ie the last upgrade for your truck is fuzzy dice.. that do nothing, good times). With the game being free, you more than get your money’s worth.
Even though not a perfect score, download the game immediately, you will not regret it. Click here to put in your Xbox 360′s download queue automatically.
Hi Mike, thanks for the review!
The custom soundtrack suggestion is a good one, especially as some people have complained about the music drowning out the sound effects.
– gostay (NinjaBee)
Gostay, thanks for reading the review! Seriously, I have no clue how you got here to our site, but glad you read it.
Also, thanks for making me feel bad for saying something negative about the music! lol
Seriously, this is a cool ass game and I’m glad your team was able to help this up and coming dev seem a step above some of the xna/community games. Now release a patch for online play
Haha, don’t worry about the music critique – I’m not taking it personally.
I like the music, but I know it can be a bit repetitive after a while, and I feel pretty bad about the default volume settings.
I’m hearing the online play request a lot. Of course, that’s no surprise (we expected the key complaints about the game would be the short experience and the lack of online play), but any plan for a title update is actually going to be up to Microsoft and Doritos, not us.
I think this game is great and the achievements are easy to get.I know some of you guys and girls hate achievement N.E.R.D.S but i like the gaming score.It help you rep. online