Game: FutureGrind
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer & Publisher: Milkbag Games Inc
Price: £15.29|$19.99 |€ 16,99
Rating: EU 7|America E10+
Release Date: 22nd January 2019
Also available on: PS4 and Steam
Review code kindly provided by Milkbag Games
FutureGrind is a futuristic motorcycle game for Nintendo Switch in which players are challenged to survive each course and perform defying stunts to progress through each stage. Its gameplay is highly addictive, enjoyable, and frustrating. Since receiving the review code, I’ve been battling my way through levels, trying to survive while performing required stunts, either cheering success or feeling exasperated by every mistake. Yes, FutureGrind isn’t a game for the faint hearted, and that’s why I love it! It’s fast, exciting, highly enjoyable as well as challenging, demanding and exasperating. I really can’t recommend this game enough!
A Motorcycle with a Difference.
Imagine a Motorcycle that’s designed to Grind along rails in midair. Its wheels rotate and spin around the body of the vehicle itself. These same wheels, depending on the colour of rail, change colour to match. Some tracks challenge players to hit coloured zones to the change wheel colour while grinding. Why? Well, this bike is highly volatile to landing on the wrong colour. If your rail and tyre match colour then great. If your tyre touches an opposite colour then BOOM!!! Yes, it’s a good job these bikes are expendable because you’ll need a lot of them.
There’s also a nice variety of bikes to get to grips with throughout the game. Just as you think you’re starting to get used to one particular bike, the game unlocks another with its own unique traits. It’s a great way of making players use a variety of vehicles without relying on a particular favourite.
A game of skill
The game’s official eShop description describes FutureGrind as an “a stylish stunt-racer [which is] all about tricks, skill, and speed.” Tricks, skill and speed essentially sum up what FutureGrind is. The first requirement for any track is to survive! If you can survive with style, then that’s even better. But as soon as you achieve basic survival, the game challenges you with assignments, which must be completed to unlock the next track. So during each run, you may have to hand grind or under grind a set number of rails. You may have to perform a sizeable 900-degree front or backflip, as well as chain together a huge score multiplier. As you may expect, tricks in the earlier stages are less demanding, but requirements escalate as you progress through the game.
Nice additional features
The game offers players two nice sections to help them become more familiar with FutureGrind’s mechanics. In the Hangar, players can experiment with each unlocked bike to try and improve their game. I particularly like the Grindpedia too which helps to explain the demands of each trick. I’ve noticed how while playing, the game may require you to perform an unfamiliar trick. If that should happen, then the Grindpedia contains both written and visual instructions.
If you would like a more casual experience, then the game also has an assistance mode by which players can either adjust the game’s speed or enable your bike to touch any rail without exploding. This makes the game more accessible to younger and less experienced players.
Controls and Presentation
One sad omission.
There’s one element that the Switch version of Futuregrind lacks which may be deemed essential for the more competitive gamer. Sadly, this particular version doesn’t include online leaderboards. I can’t help feel that this detracts from the games overall competitive edge. Yes, it’s fun to compete locally with friends and family, but it’s sad that the more hardcore can’t share and upload their best scores with others online. Perhaps this feature may feature in a future update.
Overall
Thankfully, I’m not competitive and have no desire to compete in online leaderboards. I’m more than happy to improve my own best scores and try to finish each stage and assignment without blowing myself up. FutureGrind is a brilliant game which I recommend to any player that loves a challenge. 🙂
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