After passing the 60th car, players will have experienced all of what Brick Race has to offer. Brick Race for the New 3DS is an oddity that can lose its appeal after just a few minutes; even that may be generous in terms of the amount of time anyone would want to spend playing the game. The title, "Brick Race", is a literal translation of what the game entails. Your car, made of eight bricks, races against brick cars of different colours.
The game couldn't be simpler. Set on a grid with old school aesthetics reminiscent of Tetris, gameplay involves moving your car left or right via the directional pad. Movement feels like Tetris as well, with the ability to move one space at a time with every press. The game is played solely on the 3DS' touch screen but doesn't actually utilize any touch controls, other than the strange decision to start the game using the touch capabilities. There is nothing but a visual of the game's name and how-to-play instructions on the top screen. The menu appears at the end of every game, but the only option is to play - difficulty levels cannot be adjusted, and all games restart at level 1.
In Brick Race, racing means dodging other brick cars that appear on the track. They seemingly fall much like Tetris blocks (tetrominoes) do, or to a degree this title mimics racing games seen on console of the late 1970s. Of course, hitting the other cars will result in a game over screen, so it would be ill-advised to try to fit them into one another - it's tempting as that would make a far more interesting game.
In this game of dodging, ten points are awarded for each car passed; these points stack and count towards your total, while the difficulty increases. The speed counter is also shown with all of these stats appearing on the side of the game screen. As expected, it all begins with manageable, slow speeds; cars drift by slowly, with enough time and space to casually dodge them. As more cars are passed and scores increase, opponent cars appear more frequently and rapidly. Quick fingers and reactions are required to pass these, and this is where the game continues to fall apart.
As the difficulty increases, there's only so much players can do to avoid the cars. The speed, unsurprisingly, becomes too much to handle and, eventually, no matter how quick the reflexes, Brick Race will win. When players reach Level 4, that's when things start to get crazy and faster. It's possible to get to higher levels but the journey doesn't last much further. Sadly, that's as far as the excitement goes. It's a series of dodges that becomes near impossible. The quick bursts of play, along with knowledge that being defeated by the game will come swiftly, means that there's not much that this game does to compel anyone to play for very long. There's nothing engaging about it.
The gameplay is too simple and lacks a clever mechanic to be fun. There's no real goal other than trying to beat your own high score. Even if a player significantly beats a previous high score, it never feels as though it's a personal achievement or rewarding experience. This lack of a compelling gameplay hook means it absolutely fails at being a time waster game, too.
The music, for the record, is just one long track that tries to match the game's aesthetics.
Conclusion
Games like Pong, Tetris and Pole Position, for example, are definitions of simple but fun experiences. They prove that basic games can be satisfying and entertaining. Unfortunately, that's not the case with Brick Race, which strangely is exclusive to New 3DS (like due to its support for more development tools than the original system). There's nothing about it that is exciting. There's no encouragement to keep playing. There's no real skill involved. Some annoying music and dodging brick cars? That's all there is to it, and it's just not worth a block of time.
Comments 27
It looks like something Ashens would enjoy.. not! xP
Looks awful! Thanks for the heads up.
Glad to see that all the extra power of the New 3DS is going to good use.
I knew this was crap from the very moment it was announced lol why do they even bother? do they have no self respect? I usually respect devs even if they make bad games but that's if I know they poured any amount of effort into the game, but this stinks quick cash grab.
Once again RCMADIAX brings us a toilet floater. Thanks buddy, keep up the quality work!
Wait, this Game is New 3DS Exclusive?
Every cheap knockoff Handheld in the 90s had Games like this!
Nintendo needs to kick this guy to the curb.
I thought these bit-sized microgames were better suited for handheld. Apparently not. At least this reviewer has some sense. The same game on Wii U would likely get a 5/10.
These kind of games came out massively on those '100-in-1 brickgame' handhelds that were sold by other companies alongside the original Gameboy.
Basically, the monocrome screens were made of a Tetris grid, and a score counter/timer. Then those 100 games were mostly variants of Tetris but also an Arkanoid/Breakout ballgame and this racing game with cars made of Tetris blocks.
They were a nice cheap alternative to those just wishing to play Tetris back in the day for a few $. I quite liked those Brickgames for that and the extra games were good time killers. Later on they also made them as Mini's which attach to a keychain!
That said, this 3DS version of that block racing game has no right to exist. I know Nintendo wants to welcome indies and give everyone a chance nowadays, but really.. They should at least do a little quality control. Seeing this being smacked into the eshop like a pile of trash just makes me sad.
They are charging money for this?
I guess that means we can expect to get the Brick Quarth, Brick Frogger, Brick Snake and Brick Tetris games from him that used to be on those old 90's handhelds along with this style game.
This looks like a project from a programming class. This level of quality is unacceptable if you're expecting people to actually pay for it.
They see me rollin', they hatin'...for all the right reasons.
I can't believe you were so generous that you gave it a 2/10. This game has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I could understand charging $2 had the game been in the form of an actual dedicated device (I had this "Brick Race" game in a 99-in-1 or a 999-in-1 Tetris knock-off game system that was in the shape of a PS1 controller back in the day that cost about $10).
The fact that RCMADIAX has the face to charge $2 for this despite no manufacturing costs (or any programming costs either) is just, I repeat… sick. This game should cost no more than 10c (which is more than it deserves). Shame on anyone who supports this. There's simple, but even game design tutorials have more substance than this crap.
I guess all that bloated amateur code needed the extra oomph of the New 3DS.
Wow shocking another garbage "game" from RCMADIAX. I honestly don't know why this guy even thinks his games are suited for Nintendo's consoles. He never pushes the systems hardware in any way. There's simple, and then there's lazy. From the second he tweeted this out touting it as being "New 3DS Exclusive" I knew it was a flop. We all played this game before in the '90s, the exception was it usually came with a hundred other crappy games, which made it "ok." It's 2016 man, cut the bull and make something worth paying for.
I'd rather go to a Chinese store and buy a 9999-in-one game. It'll come with this and about 6 other games (and 8000 versions of Tetris)
Quite enjoy it for 2 mins of brain numbing at the end of the day!
takes a special kind of loser to be so bothered by some guy making a living by making simple games, however bad, which they'll never be forced to play. it's like nutjob republicans obsessed with what gay people to behind closed doors.
@feelinsupersonic i highly doubt he's making a living with these "quality" gems.
@AfterAnAutopsy : He would be considering the sheer quantity of crap that he produces… and at those prices.
@AfterAnAutopsy his full-time job, i'm pretty sure. would be weirder if he had a full-time job and then made 800 games on the side.
@feelinsupersonic he's not far off from that number. Joking aside, I feel for the guy. I do. He's just trying to make a living like everyone else. But you can't charge people for the games he makes. Smartphones offer better options for free, which should always be considered at this point. He's only wasting time and money to make games that literally no one is buying.
This guy is a joke and if you support his asset flips, you're only part of the problem.
NEW 3DS? Did I read that right? NEW 3DS?
Like I know that the New 3DS has more engines and stuff for it.. but the fact that this guy was too lazy to make his own engine for his butt simple game says something.
How can a developer sit down and actually feel confident enough to release this? How?
I used to play that game in a 1997 LCD toy gaming calculator. What exactly constitutes the extra power for the New 3ds as the toy calculator can do the same thing with no problems?
Why on earth is this exclusive to new 3ds! Ha!
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