Should You Buy: Rock 'N Racing Off Road DX for the Nintendo Switch Review -
13In this video we review Rock N' Racing Off Road DX, available on multiple systems but tested here on the Nintendo Switch.
When I had my NES in the 1980s one of my favorite games was Ivan "The Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road. This was a home port of the amazing arcade title and I played the daylights out of it. It combined everything I loved about the Mickey Thompson Off Road Series with RC Pro Am and it was amazing.
Fast-forward and we now have Rock N Racing for multiple platforms, I'm testing it here on the Nintendo Switch. Available at the time of this filming it is $7.99 in the Nintendo eShop the teaser screens definitely felt inspired by that game of years past, but looked to update the graphics for current consoles.
There are multiple Championships you can play through in the single player mode, and when you claim a championship you unlock both another level of tracks AND another, faster vehicle. If you'd like you can go back and re-play previous levels with those faster cars and trucks. Unlike Super Off Road you cannot upgrade your vehicles, the vehicles themselves are the upgrades which is a bit of a disappointment to me. Upgrading the trucks in Super Off Road and RC Pro Am was part of the fun and really could have made Rock 'N Racing a little more fun.
The races are pretty straight forward, each race consists of a different number of laps which, unfortunately, can be difficult to tell the lap count. The only way you can tell the lap count is by looking at the scoring tower which can be small and hard to read. The announcer does a little help by telling you when it's the last lap but beyond that you're somewhat on your own.
Each car and truck drives differently, each level vehicle going faster than the last. One thing I liked is that you have to modulate the throttle and brake to maneuver around the course, a better test of skill than the traditional "pin it to win it" of some racing games. While that dynamic works well I do wish that jumping worked better. See, racing RC Cars and trucks for over 25 years panic braking would usually drop the nose over a jump while hitting the gas would normally bring the nose up. Unfortunately that doesn't work and some of the jumps send you sky rocking upward and out of control. I do wish the jumping characteristics were better for sure.
The AI is rather stupid in this game in a few ways. I've seen cars sit and do doughnuts in one section of the track after getting involved in a crash over and over instead of continuing on the track. They also don't seem to have any consistency regarding speed. One lap you can pull a huge lead, the next lap a car can be right on your bumper and you have done the exact same lap time.
For $8 you really can't go wrong with Rock 'N Racing Off Road DX but it is far from a perfect game. I have had fun moving from one level vehicle to the next even with the less-than-ideal handling characteristics. The challenge is definitely a bit exaggerated with some of the handling characteristics of the cars, from the understeer off power to the spinning out on throttle. But with all this I still had fun playing Rock 'N Racing Off Road DX. It's not perfect and while not the full spiritual successor to Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road I was hoping for but its still fun none-the-less.
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