It quickly becomes clear that the game strips out all that micromanagement we’re so used to and instead puts you in the thick of the action. You don’t need to give a second thought to how much to charge for tickets, how best to manage queues or what to feed your punters. It’s certainly a refreshing change. Screamride strips out the sim elements and offers the opportunity to simply focus on the rollercoasters themselves… whether it’s riding them, building them or blowing them up!

There’s a nice futuristic feel to the 50+ levels, which show a mysterious corporation’s efforts to stimulate and excite a disenfranchised society. ScreamWorks has developed a series of rides designed to get the adrenaline pumping and gain insight into the extent of human pleasure and stress. These ‘coasters are designed to push the occupants to their very limits.

"Before too long you’ll have to contend with loops, jumps, single rails and obstacles – which can make it incredibly tricky. Take a bend too quickly and you’ll come off the rails, sending your passengers into the rough waters below or slamming into the side of a building.

The game consists of three very distinct components: an on-rails racing segment, demolition, and a construction mode.

The racing portion, dubbed Screamriders, is a great introduction to the game and showcases the speed, humour and destruction on offer. You’re put in control of a car, willing participants strapped inside, about to head on a series of increasingly sick-inducing twists and turns. The aim is to rattle around the track as fast as possible and rack up the highest score.

The controls are easy to grasp – with the right trigger controlling the acceleration and propelling you along the track. A turbo boost button can be pressed at any time, assuming you’ve got enough juice in your power bar, to help you shave off a few seconds from your final time and advance up the leaderboards. Bonuses are awarded for riding on two wheels and pressing X when entering blue-highlighted sections of track; hit the button too early or late and you’ll miss out on vital points.

Before too long you’ll have to contend with loops, jumps, single rails and obstacles – which can make it incredibly tricky. Take a bend too quickly and you’ll come off the rails, sending your passengers into the rough waters below or slamming into the side of a building. To avoid this you’ll need to carefully control your speed and master leaning into turns. It starts off easy but quickly becomes taxing as the time between these many hazards shortens and faster reaction times are required!

"There are five different cabin types on offer, ranging from the bog-standard to those that can be bounced, steered, detonated or split into segments to maximise the level of destruction.

The visuals look as crisp and clear, big and bold – and more than a little reminiscent of last year’s Kinect Sports Rivals: great-looking vistas populated with cartoony caricatures fist pumping, back slapping and trying not to puke. The Screamriders mode is great fun and instantly accessible – although you’d be advised to take regular breaks to stave off motion sickness… the camera doesn’t half jump about as you shoot about the track!

But that’s certainly not all there is on offer.

Demolition Expert is a kind of hybrid of Angry Birds and The Wreckateer – the Kinect-based game where destroying castles was the order of the day. Rather than smashing up forts, modern-looking skyscrapers are your target this time round, along with giant screens, hoops, airships and so on. You’re put in control of a high-tech trebuchet with one of several interchangeable cabins attached – filled with those all-too-eager larger-than-life passengers – and tasked with adjusting the direction, speed and angle to ensure substantial damage to your target. At first, it seems like this is little more than a process of hit and hope, powering up the projectile and seeing where it lands – but you’ll soon discover that there’s far more too it.

There are five different cabin types on offer, ranging from the bog-standard to those that can be bounced, steered, detonated or split into segments to maximise the level of destruction. Coasters can also be launched into buildings – gliding and exploding towards their target with devastating effect.

This simple premise is made all the more engrossing because of the physics-based destruction employed by the developers. Buildings actually crumble, shatter, tumble and implode with amazing realism. Each impact affects the structures differently, making the action replays strangely absorbing and fun to watch; it’s a fantastic feeling when you hit the sweet spot in a building and see it wobble and fall into a neighbouring tower, causing a massive chain reaction. As luck would have it there are also plenty of explosive barrels lying about the place to make things a little easier.

"Engineering provides a good tutorial to the unrestrictive Sandbox mode, which lets you put all your new-found skills into practise. From here you can build pretty much anything you like and construct some absolutely amazing designs.

Again, racking up the points is all important and a misplaced shot can be frustrating. Fortunately, levels can be easily restarted until you get it all just right. The biggest hindrance is the camera, which can be a little wayward at times and make it difficult to judge distance and perspective. You can switch between different angles but it still would have been nice to have a little more control over the view.

Once you’ve had your fill blowing things up, you can always turn your hand to something a little more creative. The Engineering segment is a much more cerebral affair, providing a limited stock of track and prompting you to finish building a ride. Sounds easy? Initially, adjusting the angle and positioning of the track may seem a little alien but it soon becomes second nature, and you’ll be able to come up with some thrilling rides. Be warned though, don’t make your turns too sharp or drops too sudden as you’ll be docked points when the test car hurtles off the track or you lose a few passengers! Pressing down on the D-pad sends a car of test subjects to test your creation – with handy tags highlighting the sections which were most dangerous or intense. Adjustments can then be made until you’ve cracked it. I repeatedly fell into the trap of making my track so steep that my coaster stalled, sending my passengers to a grisly end.

Engineering provides a good tutorial to the unrestrictive Sandbox mode, which lets you put all your new-found skills into practise. From here you can build pretty much anything you like and construct some absolutely amazing designs. It takes some time to navigate the many menus and options, however – so this will be for the more committed player. As is the way with games nowadays, there’s the option to share your best creations with friends, or download all sorts of devilishly dangerous tracks to try out – adding to the game’s replayability factor.

Overall, Screamride is and entertaining romp and a nice change from the norm. It’s a game that could so easily have incorporated Kinect controls – with players leaning, jumping and motioning at the screen to earn those all-important speed boosts – but fortunately focusses instead on the good old-fashioned controller. While the so-called Career mode will perhaps fail to lure you back time and time again, the real value in this package is to be had in the surprisingly comprehensive Sandbox. Personally, I miss all that micro-management I’ve been so used to over the years but for short bursts of pick up and play appeal, Screamride will certainly have plenty of fans.

This game was reviewed on Xbox One.

Job Classes:

There are three Job Classes in ScreamRide and they represent different play styles. They are ScreamRider, Demolition Expert and Engineer.  Thee Engineer will be able to develop rollercoaster rides with whatever items that are available. The game gives you tons of track pieces that you can use to build your dream ride in Career or Sandbox mode. Overall, the Engineer class has the most amount of creative freedom in the game.

The Scremrider, as the name suggests will allow you to be the passenger in the rollercoaster. As you might have already guessed by now, the Screamrider will need to make sure that the rollercoaster reaches the end of the stage with maximum possible high score. The Screamrider will be able to perform stunts such as long jumps, nitro boosts and general balancing of the coaster so that it does not get derailed.

When you select The Demolition Expert job class, you will be able to launch Cabins via catapult to destroy surrounding buildings. The main goal here is to destroy as many buildings as you can and get the maximum amount of score. You will also be able to launch a coaster off a ramp and right into the buildings. Again, the main aim here is to get the highest amount of score.

Scoring points and bonus goals:

Sometimes it’s best to hit targets that are easier and obvious. So try and achieve the following challenges for bonuses: destroying portals, riding through launchpads and hitting bullseyes. You can also try to hit speedboats but they are generally the toughest to aim for.

You can also earn points by popping up the rollercoaster’s wheels as frequently as possible. In the end, ScreamRide is all about taking risks and chances with the coaster so try and lean on the sideways a bit further than usual. This way you will earn points faster. Intelligent use of speed boosters will also earn your points so use it across tight corners.

Career Mode Guide:

The Career mode is divided into six different sections which are The Populous Labs, Falls Research Station, Beldurraren Laku, The Caldera Complex, De Frusna and The Fortress. All these six sections will have you alternating between the three classes that were mentioned above. You can find more about the career mode over here.

Sandbox Mode Guide:

Sandbox mode gives the player the ability to develop customized levels, rollercoasters, level environments, bonus objectives and more. Players can also share their levels with other players online. However, please note that there is a maximum limit on the number of pieces and objects you can use in the custom level. In short, the usage case is not infinite and you have to use your own creativity to make your levels appealing.

Some of the best user developed levels and coasters:

Achievements Guide:

Series 1 Complete

Complete Series 1. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Series 2 Complete

Complete Series 2. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Series 3 Complete

Complete Series 3. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Series 4 Complete

Complete Series 4. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Series 5 Complete

Complete Series 5. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Series 6 Complete

Complete Series 6. This can be achieved during your playthrough of the game.

Screamer

Complete all ScreamRider levels

Engineer

Complete all Engineer levels

Demolition Wo/Man

Complete all Demolitions Expert levels

All Day, ‘Ery Day

100% all Campaign levels

Demolitions Graduate

Complete the First Demolitions Expert level

Engineer Graduate

Complete the First Engineer level

ScreamRider Graduate

Complete the First ScreamRider level

AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!

Generate a total Scream Rating of over 250,000,000 in the campaign

Bulk, Smash!

Demo Expert: Gain a Scream Rating total of 100,000,000

Builder

Sandbox: Place down 50,000 pieces of scenery

Get Outta Here!

Engineer: Eject 500 riders

Don’t, Look, Down

Engineer: Build a coaster with a drop height of 190m.

Nothing but Net

Demo Expert: Launch a coaster car more than 300m

Dayum Dayum Dayum

Demo Expert: Cause over 2,500,000 damage in a campaign level

Boomshakalaka

Demo Expert: Cause 20+ explosions in a campaign level.

It’s GOOD

Demo Expert: Send a car or cabin through a goal post.

3, 2, 1

Demo Expert: Launch 500 cabins

Share and Share Alike

Share a level that you’ve built

Rated G, for Good

Rate someone else’s level

Downloader

Download someone else’s level

Sharing the Plan

Share a blueprint

Trendy

Have a level downloaded 30 times

I Hope You Have Insurance

ScreamRider: Crash a coaster

Manual Labor

ScreamRider: Spend 20 consecutive seconds on two wheels.

Perfecto

ScreamRider: Get 1,000 Perfects

Rodney!

ScreamRider: Spend a total of 30 minutes on two wheels

Ready, Eddy, Go!

ScreamRider: Get a Perfect start

Safe Landing

ScreamRider: Get 25 Perfect landings

Laying Track

Engineer: Place down 10km of track

Crushed It

Demo Expert: Launch a cabin over 500m

All Screamer

100% all ScreamRider levels

Over-Engineering

100% all Engineer levels

What a Smashing Time

100% all Demolitions Expert levels

Ain’t Nuthin but a G

Engineer: Build a coaster that achieves over 30 g

vvvvVVVVRRRroooommmm

Engineer: Build a coaster that exceeds 150mph.  [Refer guide for ‘Don’t, Look, Down’]

Barry, Did You Use Hydrogen Again?

Demo Expert: Destroy the blimp

Get To Da Choppa

Demo Expert: Destroy the helicopter

I’m on a Boat

Demo Expert: Destroy the speed boat

La Decima

ScreamRider: Get 10 Perfects in a Row

He’s on Fire

Demo Expert: Pass through 100 hoops

Steinered

Demo Expert: Skim a cabin 5 times

This guide will be updated once we have new information about the game. For more on the game, check out the video walkthrough of ScreamRide over here.

Game Overview:

In ScreamRide, players develop their own rollercoasters and custom tracks, and share it with other players online. The game also features a career mode divided into six sections with three different playstyles divided into Engineer, ScreamRider and Demolition Expert. The game features more than 50 levels and several customizable parts that can be used to develop your very own coaster.

ScreamRide is now available for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. The game is developed by Frontier Developments and published by Microsoft.

Check out the video walkthrough of ScreamRide  below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.

Last year at E3, Microsoft announced ScreamRide, a new IP that would be coming to its Xbox 360 and Xbox One consoles this year; ScreamRide would be developed by Frontier, the company that originally developed Roller Coaster Tycoon for the PC back in the day, and more recently, Elite Dangerous, and would feature crashing roller coasters; but maybe that was not enough to sell you on the concept. And with the game’s release rapidly approaching (it launches in March), Microsoft has decided to let you go hands on with it for yourself- a demo for the game will be made available on Xbox Live at midnight tonight. This demo will be available for both, the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One.

Three modes will be included the demo: ScreamRider, where you control roller coasters directly, and  steer them through mazes; Engineer, where you get to build coasters of your own; and Demolition Expert, where you work to create the biggest crashes (and which is the one that has been most publicized so far).

Are you going to get the demo?

Microsoft has finally revealed some of its big name releases for the coming months. First up is Undead Labs’ State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition which will be releasing on April 28th. This is a port of the open world zombie survival horror game on the Xbox 360 and will include all previous DLC along with a 1080p resolution.

Next is Ori and the Blind Forest, an indie platformer that was expected late last year but was delayed into 2015. It will now be releasing on March 11th. Check out the newest trailer for the game which showcases the Forlorn Ruins.

Finally, there’s rollercoaster title Screamride which will be out on March 3rd. There isn’t a whole lot we know about the game but it’s got rollercoasters and destruction. That’s really all we need.

What are your thoughts on these upcoming Xbox One titles? Which one piques your interest most? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

The game is being developed with Microsoft platform exclusivity in mind and as such, is set to be published by Microsoft Studios. Slated to release in North America on March 3rd 2015 an March 6th of 2015 in Europe, the game is set to launch on the Xbox One and Xbox 360.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

The development of Screamride has been somewhat, if not wholly, uneventful. This is most likely due to the fact that the developers working on the game, Frontier Development, is a hugely talent team.

Directing the games development is David Braben, a renowned computer programmer and CEO of Frontier Development that has in the past worked on other popular games like RollerCoaster Tycoon and the Wallace and Gromit franchise.

The game was officially announced and revealed to the general public in 2014 during the Gamescom 2014 event in Cologne, Germany. The reveal was accompanied by a reveal trailer that showed off the games use of building and its revolutionary destruction physics which makes use of an all new collision design.

Story

The game doesn’t have a conventional narrative and is instead a game which is about the game. The player need only build the biggest and wildest rides that they possibly can and use it to wreak havoc on those riding it by way of destruction, loops and massive dips etc.

This lack of a narrative is perhaps due to the fact that the game is considered to be the spiritual successor to the Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise of building and management games.

Gameplay

With Screamride being the spiritual successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon the game is heavily focussed on the building of roller coasters that are insane in the extreme. The game was shown to have more than 50 stages that would stretch across three separate gameplay modes that are all different.

The Engineer game mode the player can build their own thrilling rollercoaster rides for a theme park. These custom rides can be augmented with a series of add ons such as props and crazy track sections. Scenery is available for the stage as well and snaps in via modular segments.

The screamrider gameplay mode is the gameplay mode where they player can actually control and use the rollercoasters that they created in The Engineer game mode.

The Demolition Expert Mode is the gameplay mode that asks players to tackle a series of challenges such as demolishing the environments in the game world and meeting a set of conditions. The destruction ranges from toppling parts of the rollercoasters structure to levelling Skyscrapers.

Characters

While there are characters in the game, they are most likely pre-constructed NPC’s.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Major Nelson or Larry Hryb proves he still likes to talk fast and give death stares in this preview of Screamride alongside executive producer Jorg Neumann.

Talking about initial confusion surrounding the announcement of the game when it was constantly likened to Roller Coaster Tycoon, Neumann explains that the game is the latest game from Frontier Developments who are apparently super well known in the “roller coaster genre” So what are the central concepts in this extremely strange action game? They’re to create an insane roller coaster, ride the roller coaster and blow up the roller coaster. Seriously.

He goes on to say that destruction has never been done like this before in “the industry”, which we’ll find out for ourselves when Screamride releases for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. What are your thoughts on the gameplay footage above? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

In 2013 Microsoft was being smashed left and right for not supporting indie developers the way Sony were supporting back then. At last year’s Gamescom Microsoft introduced the ID@Xbox policy which pushed for more independent games on development. Ori And the Blind Forest  from Moon Studios is perhaps the best of the indie lot that the Xbox One has at the moment.

The game was first announced at this year’s E3 and now at Gamescom, Moon Studios have showcased gameplay footage. There is no doubt this is one of the best looking indie games we have seen, rivaling FrozenByte’s Trine franchise, the grace is almost unmatchable here.

Microsoft also showcased more of Screamride, frantic title dealing with roller coasters and honestly, it looked like a lot of fun. What are your thoughts on these two titles? Let us know in the comments section below and stay tuned for more coverage from Gamescom.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/screamride-and-ori-and-blind-forest-are-two-indie-xbox-one-games-that-you-need-to-keep-your-eye-on/feed 2 205318 https://gamingbolt.com/microsoft-trademarks-new-online-computer-game-called-screamride https://gamingbolt.com/microsoft-trademarks-new-online-computer-game-called-screamride#comments Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:20:55 +0000 http://gamingbolt.com/?p=193290

Ahead of Microsoft’s E3 2014 press conference where the company promises to showcase more games and less executives this year, a new game has been filed on April 9th at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

Titled “Screamride”, the game has been classified as an “online computer game” and while it’s not like it would come to the Xbox One – or is currently being actively developed – it’s still a new development for Microsoft. Other trademarks issued by Microsoft lately include “Snap Attack” and “Secrets and Treasure.” Time will tell when Microsoft officially announces these games, though E3 2014 wouldn’t be a very bad time to do so.

Other games that may be showing up at E3 2014 for Microsoft’s conference include Sledgehammer Games’ Call of Duty title, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break and much more. Will Screamride make an appearance? Which games are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below.