Baja : Edge of Control
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Off-road racing titles have become something of a rarity in recent years, but Baja : Edge of Control see’s a return of the dirt-speeding genre. How does it handle? There’s only one way to find out!
And after finding out you may find yourself wishing you had no idea at all, as Baja Edge of Control will eventually leave you out of pocket and largely disappointed. It’s not all bad, though.
The game does a lot of things pretty well actually. For such an ambitious title, it could possibly be argued that developers 2XL Games have done a good job of what was always going to be a tricky project because of the subject it’s cantered on. Recreating dusty desert tracks which are being trounced by numerous heavy off-road racers each kicking up dirt and dust in all directions was never going to be easy, even with the power of today’s consoles - however, with more time and effort i’m sure it would have been achievable, at least to a higher degree of realism than we see in Baja Edge of Control.
On the XBox 360 the game actually looks quite good throughout, but the flaws are there for all to see when you hit the Playstation 3 version which is strange, but true, so if you do choose to buy it, make sure it’s for the XBox 360 otherwise you will be disappointed.
The game allows you to take part in races, rally and hill climbing events in your choice of the nine available muck-covered environments. These modes are for the eager racers who just want to have fun and tear around the huge courses in the more powerful vehicles in the game, which are locked up for later use in the career mode. But it’s the career mode which gives the game something of a saving grace.
You will begin career mode with the most basic of vehicles, forcing you to struggle against the odds from the outset as you look to build up a cash stash which you can later call upon to upgrade your vehicle - which will not necessarily make races easier to win, as the opponents will improve too as you progress through to the later stages of the game.
Your vehicle will inevitably get damaged during the races - this will be the case even for the best drivers amongst us, whatever vehicle you have. However you can choose to turn off the vehicle damage function which will of course help you in the long run, but in my eyes is a form of cheating, and here at Cheatmasters we do not condone cheating. Right.
With bits of vehicles flying all over the course, the rewarding feeling you get when you do finally manage to win a race in the crappy heap of metal you start out with is huge - and worth waiting for in a sense. The cars do not handle particularly well, and even the terrain on which you are racing is not a sufficient excuse for this fact. You will find yourself skidding off all over the place at bizarre times which can prove frustrating, particularly during the longer races when you have been driving well for a while and got yourself into a good position, only to skid off randomly before finding yourself back in last place.
Ultimately, the XBox 360 version of Baja Edge of Control is a good attempt at an off-road racing game for this generation, but as a package the game looks rushed and at times unfinished. The Playstation 3 version is worse still, with glitches in abundance. I can not personally recommend the game, and a good off-road title is something I personally would love to play - but this is certainly not it for me.
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