Gumball Drift

I took a quick look at Ghost Machine`s latest game Gumball Drift, and i did enjoy this very much. Table top games makes for a fun experience in VR. I still feel the game needs more objectives. maybe this will come in a future update. Here is my video : https://youtu.be/3cpHInZw_Zg

This looked so good on the store page. But it was disapointing on many fronts. The concept is great, somewhere between micro machines and having one of those electric toy race tracks. The VR perspective looking down on toy like race cars you control works really well. There is of course no reason it needs to be VR exclusive, the camera could easily be bound to the right analog stick allowing non-VR onwers to join in. It's all down hill from there too. I loaded it up and went straight into options, where sound was defaulted to off and virtually impossible to adjust because attmepting to adjust the volume sliders moves you to next option in the menu. I later found out the volume sliders only affect the main menu and even with sound off the the music at the start of the race will blow out your ear drums. I bought it primarily because it's one of the few Vive enabled games listed to have multiplayer. So talking to a friend in teamspeak we loaded up the game, and clicked online. Immediately we were taken into a race track. First thing we noticed was dispite the game not using the vive controllers, they still floated visably above the race track blocking the view until we physicaly moved them out of the way. Next we noticed we were both alone. We were just thrown into two empty games displite connecting at the same time. Turns out connecting at the same time was the problem. If one of us went into the online mode and waited by themself for the race to start then the other one of us joined, then the second player got to join in on the race in progress. Just to clarify, there is no lobby of any sort. You click online and you just get thrown in a game if one is there. So the only way to play multiplayer with my friend was to join them in a race that already started, so they could be halfway around the track before I got in if they wanted (we were of course gentlefolk about it). That where it got really stupid. The multiplayer games last 4 laps... You'd think that means first to do 4 laps wins... Nope, it means cars can cross the starting line 4 times. All cars collectively. So if we were neck and neck the whole way around, the game would last 2 laps (about 30 seconds). No winners no losers. The 4th time a car goes over the starting line the game just ends and both players get kicked out to... The map select menu for the single player campaign mode. Which you then have to back out of to go back to multiplayer again. Which btw will be on the same map every single time. Pretty much everything about the menu interface is broken. Multiplayer while technically existant, is completely broken. The single player campaign mode is where the most work seems to be put and it's passable at times, but just passable. I know it's early access but a lot of work needs to be done to polish this up to something worth selling and once it is it still needs more content to justify the listed pricetag. I suggested to my friend we refund the game and go get Toybox turbos for a quarter the price. It was a much better investment.

Waste of $20. I downloaded the game for my son and as soon as I started it up, it was offcenter and can't be full screened or adjusted so you can't see whats going on. All you can see is a tractor literally in front of the main menu. And then if you can figure out how to accidentally start the game you play the whole game from a fixxed position behind a crash wall barrier. Like I said, worst waste of $20 I've ever done in my life. And I once bought my own ♥♥♥♥ back from a thief once.

Great game for VR that's tabletop-style presentation prevents any form of motion sickness. As someone who needs to activate nearly all comfort settings for most games, I can greatly appreciate how easy this game is on me. There are 10 different race tracks with 20 different vehicles; many of which must be unlocked. Thanks to that this game has a lot of staying power and keeps pulling me back for more. Dozens of environmental hazards and power-ups kept me engaged during the race, and dominating other racers feels extremely satisfying. There's a multiplayer option, but sadly there aren't enough people playing right now in order to give it a fair rating. Hopefully once people recieve more of their headsets and as VR takes off I'll be able to play the multiplayer with others! A local multiplayer option would also be an amazing addition. One issue I had with the game is it loaded me in very close to the ground, and it was difficult to see the track. It turns out the solution to this was setting up SteamVR in its seated/standing experience. I use the Oculus so I was unaware of how to use SteamVR, but once I got through that issue the game was a lot of fun and I'll continue to be returning for more. I can only imagine how fun it would be to have a Vive and walk all over the track!

A VR slotcar drifting type of game, it's priced too high for what it is. Needs to be below $10 to make it a recommend. Gameplay: https://youtu.be/m4lv80oRFM8 Need a gamepad to play and takes some time to get used but once you do its pretty fun. Online against friends would be the go, still priced far to high buy in a bundle or on huge discount. Not recommended due to price.

Surprised that there are not more top down racers like this in VR because it works so well. I like the tiny toon style cars, it riminds me of when I would like with slot cars or hotwheels. At first the races were too slow, but after I made the change in options to 'hard' setting it was perfect. I've speant a few hours already playng this, but I hevent even unlocked half of the cars and tracks yet, so there is quite a bit of content i have still to keep playing.

Surprised that there are not more top down racers like this in VR because it works so well. I like the tiny toon style cars, it riminds me of when I would like with slot cars or hotwheels. At first the races were too slow, but after I made the change in options to 'hard' setting it was perfect. Would love it if there were more players for the multiplayer mode becuase I think it would be awesome in multiplayer.

VR play for this type of game is actually good and the game itself is fun. But, I can't recommend at this point. I think with some pretty minor game design tweaks, it could be excellent. Examples: The first couple tracks pay $5000 to win. Spend $20000 to unlock a new longer, harder track... and that pays $5000 to win. You can play tracks over and over without penalty. So... play the first easy track over and over is the best path forward. It also doesn't show what tracks you've won, or your best times, or anything like that. According to the lap counter, your first lap is lap 0 of 4, and your final lap is 3 of 4. Yep, finish lap 3 of 4, and the race is over. You do complete 4 laps, but they are simply numbered wrong. Was this game play tested? See the grass with the pylons in the screen shots? You can drive straight over that without any penalty. The AI doesn't cut the corner, so it's pretty hard to lose that race. Driving in dirt is way too slow. Cars are too fragile. A couple rubs and they blow up... but are immediately respawned in exactly the same spot. Odd gameplay choice. Steering doesn't seem to work unless you're on the gas. Again, odd. All of this seems like just sloppy game design. But, it strips the fun and challenge from what potentially could be a really great arcade racer. It doesn't feel like a rushed game, but it does feel like an untested/tweaked game. Great potential, but not worth the $ they are asking for it now. Sooooo close to being sooooo fun. Update and fix... please! :-) Note: reviewed as single player game. Maybe this is an excellent online game. I don't know.

Still one of my favorites, after all these years. If I'm set up to do a session of seated VR games, you can be sure Gumball Drift will get some play. Super Sprint for VR, but the cars, instead of being tiny, feel like they're about the size of a brick. Get the drifting feel down and take it to town. I wish there'd been a follow up, Gumball Drift 2. Good fun.

I wan't sure that I would like this controller game, becuase in VR everything else is standing and running around. It turns out that I like sitting and playing VR even better! This game is like an arcade racer, where you see the entire track layed out before you and it seems to take up your entire room. You can get up and walk around the track, is down in the infield and watch the cars race around, its pretty cool. The AI is pretty good, while at first it was too easy, I just changed the difficulty to hard and after I did that, the races were super challenging. There is a mutliplayer option as well, but I did not spend any time playing that yet, ive mostly just played single player.