A Review of BeamNG in About 3 Minutes
124"Game Reviews, Without The Fluff!" - Welcome to 3 Minute Game Reviews where in this video we're sharing our take on BeamNG and helping you answer that all important question - IS IT WORTH IT?!
Get ready for some potentially fast talking ‘cos we’ve got a lot of information to cram into a short amount of time, so sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride!
So what is BeamNG? Well put simply it’s a highly customizable physics based driving simulator where you basically spawn a car, or a bus, or a truck on a large map filled with a number of challenges and scenarios, which you can access either by driving to the locations shown on the map, or by hitting escape and browsing the list of scenarios to find something to do directly.
Calling it a game might be a bit of a stretch though and I’d actually define it better as a tech demo with elements of a game thrown in as a kind of place holder, because as although the soft body physics and relatively realistic vehicle handling can keep you entertained for several hours with somewhere in the region of 30 different cars and buses and stuff to try out, there isn’t really any ‘point’ to any of it.
It’s basically just a sandbox where your imagination makes up most of the content, with the game itself acting as a sort of mediator to bring your dreams to life. If you’re someone who enjoys thinking up scenarios and keeping yourself entertained watching the frankly awesome destructive capabilities of the soft body physics at work as they literally tear your car apart after driving it off a cliff just for kicks, then there’s a very high chance that this could be one of the best games of all time.
But if you’re someone like me who prefers just a little hint of structure or purpose to their pixel mayhem, just something or someone to tell me “ok well done, you did this, now go do that” to give me a sense of progression and achievement, well then you may find it just a little bit lacking.
That’s not to say it’s bad though, because by all accounts it’s actually really quite fun even just playing it with the keyboard or a gamepad, but to get the most out of it, as is the case with most driving sims, your best bet is to play it with a wheel and pedal setup for that extra precision to help bring down your lap times, or help you chase a bad guy or drive a bus route or whatever it is you’re doing.
You heard me correctly there by the way, there’s a surprising number of bus routes to drive that involve actually stopping to pick up passengers and open the doors for them, though granted the passengers are all invisible ghost people that you never actually get to see, but that’s where the aforementioned imagination comes in handy to bring the whole experience together.
Despite coming out in 2015 it’s technically still in early access, but unlike a lot of EA games, it’s still receiving regular updates and the overall development seems pretty stable. It’s also worth noting that it’s rated as overwhelmingly on Steam which suggests that the devs have managed to earn their fans trust which is always a good sign. If you’re an achievement hunter though it might be worth noting that there’s currently a grand total of 4 steam achievements to collect, with none of them being particularly difficult to attain.
Finally I just wanted to touch on the mod support for the game. Yes it has mods and it’s got its very own mod repository built right into the main menu where you can browse, download and install countless different mods, some good, some bad as you might expect, all inside the game without needing to fiddle with any folders or ini files, though you can do that if you want to and you know what you’re doing.
Overall I’d say it’s definitely worth the money IF you like sandboxes and carving your own path, and especially if you’re interested in making your own mods and scenarios to play through, but if you’re looking for a complete game that will gently guide you it from start to finish then this MIGHT not be what you’re looking for, though depending on just how much you like watching crunching metal, you might definitely still find a good few hours of fun, even if you decide that dabbling with mods and custom scenarios isn’t your style.
Personally I would LOVE for these devs to recognise their engine’s potential and to make a rally spin-off with slightly toned down suspension and destruction, and more emphasis on good, solid off road racing, but who knows what the future holds.
But that’s all we’ve got time for so I’d like to thank you for watching, invite you to check out the rest of my channel and wish you all the best, until the next time. Thanks for watching.
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