Scrap Metal (XBOX360)

• Slick Entertainment
• Racing
• Release: Mar 10, 2010 »
• ESRB: Everyone 10+

Source by: www.gamespot.com

Games like Scrap Metal aren't nearly as common as they used to be. Many modern racing games focus so completely on realism that even with hundreds of licensed vehicles on their rosters, there's no room for vans equipped with rocket launchers, muscle cars that come with four machine guns as standard, or even hover cars sporting twin flamethrowers. Scrap Metal features all of these and more. It also affords you ample opportunities to put all 20 of its vehicles through their paces in varied campaign missions and multiplayer races that can be raced either locally or online. The action is frantic and fun, but it's also flawed and frustrating enough that the 1,200 Microsoft points asking price seems steep.

Your garage is another source of irritation. It only has room to accommodate four vehicles, but by the time you beat the 60-plus single-player challenges, you have access to 20. Prize money is used to upgrade a vehicle's speed, grip, armor, and firepower ratings. And given that Scrap Metal is a challenging game, purchasing the right upgrades for the right vehicles is sometimes the only way to progress. As you unlock new vehicles by completing certain challenges or by destroying them during races, you inevitably need to take others out of your garage to make room for them, at which point all of your hard-earned upgrades are lost forever--even if you decide to recall the vehicle from the junkyard later. It's possible to hang onto a favorite vehicle or two throughout your entire career if you choose to, but the first thing you want to do when you unlock a new ride is take it for a test-drive, and there are several challenges that force you to use vehicles that you might otherwise ignore.