Jeremy McGrath's Offroad Review

[charlesr]

Grabbed the demo and gave it a few goes.
The default view is bonnet cam, but there are a couple of chase cams and a bumper cam, although the latter is really odd - it gives the best sensation of speed, but seems to be angled downwards and you can still see the tops of the other vehicles, so it's not really a bumper cam - in fact it seems the same height as the bonnet cam (which also allows you to see the tops of the other vehicles) but with a different field of view.

Anyway, this is straight up arcade action, silky smooth 60fps at all times in 1080p. There are several essentials for quick laps:

The left stick can be used to slightly pivot the car in the air to land all four wheels on the downslopes at the right angles (like Excitebike/truck).
The handbrake starts a slide if you hold it for a fraction of a section (tapping doesn't seem to initiate) and if you combine this with a LB clutch slip on the way out of the corner, you get a swift exit and some XP to upgrade your vehicle.

Upgrades have a noticeable effect on speed, acceleration, handling and brakes.

Handling is floaty truck style, but quite enjoyable - I'm looking forward to trying some online racing because I think it will be tight, but the upgrade system will need to be chomped through to be competitive online - for a game of this type I'm wondering if this might prove annoying - equal vehicles would be better, but I'll let you know when I get around to unlocking the full thing (hoping to be sent a code shortly).

[crazytaxinext]

Saw a trailer for this the other day and it looks pretty good, not too expensive either. Will be eager to see what you make of it.

[nakamura]

Played the demo, hugely impressed. Lovely silky visuals that are far easier on the eye than many retail titles. Really nice lighting and a decent level of detail for an XBLA title. Handling was really fun and swinging the trucks into bends was very satisfying.

[Alex WS]

Might have to check this out based on 60fps and 1080p alone. It's a game with motorised vehicles, right?

[nakamura]

Yeah Paris Dakar style 4wd racing. Really good fun and only 800 pts!

[charlesr]

I didn't get a code for this, so I bought it so will give some impressions on the full game shortly and a review. The faster trucks are more fun - the slower ones don't ever feel like they are on the ragged edge. The demo features a mid range truck.

[charlesr]

I got this because it was going to be good fun online. Except just now, there was no one playing online

[nakamura]

Aren't most games bar the big ones completely barren online?

[charlesr]

When Stoked came out, there were always loads of people online. I would have thought this would have had about the same level, but... denied.

[charlesr]

Got some online games in for this and finished the basic career mode and did some TTs.

Online is a bit daft because you have to level your vehicle up to have a chance. Doesn't take long, but they should all be maxed out online from the start I think. However, if you've maxed them in the career mode to start with, that carries across. Also there's an "Open" choice instead of single class lock, so unless everyone chooses the same class, it's unbalanced.

However, once maxed and in a class locked lobby, this is great.

Best I can describe is Top Gear Rally on the N64, with bigger jumps, and 1080p 60fps bright vibrant visuals instead of murky dark 11.5fps 240p visuals.