NOT
Doing extra isn’t very rewarding
While it is a nice addition to the game and it does make the game more fun, doing items such as stunts don’t exactly help you in tight spots. In my experience, using stunts will often slow you down rather than simply going over a jump normally and passing everybody in your tracks. Sure the extra boost that you gain from doing stunts is helpful, but in tight spots, even boost won’t necessarily help you. An item that you unlock after the first three or four races is the shortcut token. The shortcut token allows you to press a button, and then you will be granted the ability to temporarily open up a nearby shortcut so you can get a jump on opponents.
Sometimes this is useful mainly because most shortcuts contain at least two or three boost tokens, but many times the angle that you come out of the shortcut will cause you to collide with an obstacle of some sort. Other times while using shortcuts, it simply isn’t as great an idea as going the regular route, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering it is called a “short-cut” after all. Other times, I found myself being destroyed by shortcuts. I remember one in particular where if you do not press the shortcut button in time, it would simply lower on top of and crush your vehicle. There were occasions where shortcuts helped, but I usually found them less than helpful. While using boost will certainly make a difference in the winning or losing factor, the minimalist tends to win the races in Mad Riders aside from such.
Respawn Penalties
One thing that I found to be very common in the time I spent playing Mad Riders was the “respawn penalty” screen. Whether it be going around a simple corner, or going over a jump to progress ahead of other racers, it seemed to happen. Even when you respawn from a penalty, you may be thrown right back into another due to a poor respawn. It could be that the sensitivity for respawn penalties are simply very high, or I’m just quite the awful driver, take your pick, I suppose. Though the respawns are usually fine, the overall penalty thing is probably the biggest problem I have with the game, but even this isn’t that bad as the times are usually quite short and won’t often hinder your spot too much.
Verdict
Mad Riders is an excellent racing game for a casual fan, a hardcore racing freak, or even those who may not usually like racing games. Though it has a slight drawback being the at times annoying respawn penalties, the experience is greatly reinvigorated by elements like addicting multiplayer, large variety, and an overall very enjoyable game. Though my personal opinion of the game is slightly diminished by the fact that it has downloadable content before it has even been released, Mad Riders is still an excellent game. All in all, I recommend this game to anybody out there looking for a great, enjoyable, nice looking game.
[Editor’s Note: Mad Riders was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
