It's launch week for Microsoft's Xbox One which means its time to check out reviews for the system's day-one games. First up we have Lococycle, Twisted Pixel Games' high-speed motorcycle racer — with a twist of course. Twisted Pixel has garnered quite the reputation for XBLA games on Xbox 360, but how is the jump to the next-generation?
"If nothing else, LocoCycle earns its name. It’s got not one, but two sentient motorcycles, and buckets full of loco. I imagine I’ll have forgotten what LocoCycle played like long before I forget its unapologetically zany live-action bits, and its questionable treatment of Pablo. Its inconsistent gameplay becomes tedious despite its imaginative variety, and its levels lack cohesion or a sense of momentum. Like the cheesy 90's films it apes, LocoCycle is memorable, but not quite good."
"Lococycle isn’t complex, but I was easily sucked into its silliness. I wanted to see where this intentionally stupid story was headed, and it was worth the trip – even if the game itself isn't very deep."
"And if you're looking for a game to show off your next-gen console this certainly isn't it; environments, character models and even the game's epic boss battles all look like they could've been achieved on the Xbox 360. But then, to focus too much on LocoCycle's visuals would be to miss the point; this is a great example of entertaining storytelling with brilliant bursts of inventiveness. But once you're left alone with the core gameplay, it feels pedestrian."
"Ultimately, the whole thing is depressing more often than it's annoying. Twisted Pixel's lineage suggests that LocoCycle is made by talented and creative designers who had a handful of potentially entertaining ideas to play with. The implementation is rushed and slipshod, however, ignoring fundamental problems and expending limited energy on the wrong things"
"Lococycle is as hard to put down as it is hard to love. Even if the comedy scratches your itch, there will be times when the shortage of depth and aversion to polish become impossible to forgive. But then again, Lococycle never feels like it's actually trying to be good."
"LocoCycle tries a lot of new things thematically, while simultaneously paying homage to classic arcade racing shooters. It doesn't succeed in everything it sets out to do, but if you're looking for a decent arcade shooter to toy around with on your new Xbox One, LocoCycle is it."
"This would have been a great short comic film. But LocoCycle is a game, and in an unexpected twist of fate, it makes the act of catching rockets, fighting soaring robots, and rushing through the rural fields outside of Scottsburg, Indiana, blander than they deserve to be."
On the plus side, Lococycle is also an Xbox 360 game so if you don't plan on getting an Xbox One at launch, you can still enjoy it.
