Springworld Challenge Game Review by Matt Bird
Game Rating = 3/5 Balls
SpringWorld Challenge isn’t what I’d call this game. I think I’d rename it to something along the lines of ‘A Cautionary Tale for Drivers.’ Doesn’t click? Oh well.
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SpringWorld Challenge is straightforward. You have a vehicle. This vehicle, either a car or a rocket, must reach a goal. This goal is typically located across an expanse of two-dimensional, twisting terrain filled with rotating platforms, crushes presses and circling hills. Bypass these perils, reach a green circle within a set period of time, and you’re golden. Depending on your speed you’ll receive trophies for your efforts, with extra kudos if you get to the end without much damage.
That’s it. There’s not much else to say about SpringWorld Challenge. Except, that is, for the glorious, glorious crashes.
Destruction is the real reason most will play this game. It’s endowed with a unique set of physics that, at least for the cars, makes for a hilarious time. As with any good racing game your car comes equipped with rocket boosters than not only speed your car up, but keep it rooted to the ground (these are located on the hood and top of the trunk). It’s extremely easy to become airborne, and because your car is fragile one good crash is enough to wreck it beyond repair.
And that’s where the fun comes in, because you’re invariably left with a pair of wheels and one mad thruster that you can still partially control. No more driver in this car; it’s a phantom wreck that will struggle along valiantly – mainly because you’ll make it struggle, giggling insidiously as you jab at the accelerator – until it realizes that, in its mangled state, there’s no way to reach the goal. Then you’ll start all over again.
I would’ve been happy with an entire game of just car mayhem. Unfortunately, the folks at Nyblom Software saw decided to include the tedious rocket stages. Your ship’s thrusters are much more frustrating than they are hilarious, and the wrecks are never as satisfying mainly because they aren’t high velocity, uncontrolled impacts so much as a series of annoying bumps. Especially aggravating are maze stages that stick your ship inside a minute labyrinth.
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There’s not much to be said about SpringWorld’s visuals. It looks, in fact, as though most of the game was done in MS Paint. The music isn’t much better, with only a handful of generic tracks though I’ll admit that, again, I far prefer the peppy numbers found in the car levels. It’s as if the programmer knew exactly where to focus the game’s strong points.
Don’t get me wrong. SpringWorld Challenge is fun. It’s a good time waster and even makes allowance for your more insane crashes, as you can record your runs and post them online for others to watch. I think, however, that the rocket should’ve been expunged in favor of more polish on the car stages. Nicer visuals and longer tracks would make SpringWorld into a classic.
As it is, SpringWorld strikes me as a glorified tech demo. I can’t recommend buying it. That said, if a car-only game ever comes along with the same physics I’ll gleefully grab a copy. 3/5
