Overpass Review

Overpass was developed by Zordix Racing and is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Zordix is relatively new to games and has only developed a few other titles that you have likely not heard of. The publisher of this title is Nacon who are experienced in the industry and have published a few big titles like WRC 8.

Overpass is a racing game with a difference. This isn’t like other racing games where you compete against 16 other racers and attempt to cross the finish line first; Overpass instead has you trying to compete on the leaderboards for the fastest time on a course, with the opponent being the course itself and it is a worthy foe.

Why is this game different from other time-trial based racers? Well, the difference here is that while other racing games of this type have you follow a set path to complete the course, Overpass gives you the freedom to find your own route through to the finish line. Because of this, I found myself replaying tracks trying to find routes that I may have missed to get the best times on the leaderboard.

So while attempting these courses you will be using one of two vehicles. The first vehicle is a lightweight buggy that will provide you with the safety of not falling off but is sluggish when it comes to very steep inclines. On the other hand, you have the quad bike which does provide you with the speed that you need to get over the difficult inclines but you are far more likely to go too fast and fall off. This provides a balanced choice for both but I found myself enjoying the buggy a lot more as it just played much smoother and gave me an easier experience.

Well, that pretty much sums up what you’ll be doing in this game since there is no multiplayer aside from the leaderboards as mentioned earlier. This title has a lot of tracks though and they are very varied with the size and length. While there isn’t too much depth to the gameplay or its systems, I did enjoy myself. Take for instance one of the first courses, it’s kind of like a tutorial but is actually rather tricky if you don’t pay attention to the classes that are taught beforehand. I found myself constantly restarting the course as I found better ways to approach the situation and get a better time overall. And that is the main point of this game: while you could follow the beaten path and get a decent time there is always a better path to shave off a few seconds.

The lack of a free roam mode is rather disappointing. While you go through all of these courses and just want to achieve the best times, you don’t have a lot of time to explore and really find the best routes as the timer is always counting. There is never an option to turn this off and just explore, which is quite disappointing as the courses are good but if I could explore a course for an hour or two I’m sure I could find a way to cut down my best times by a significant margin.

While it isn’t necessary to add multiplayer to every title, this is a title that would have hugely benefitted from the inclusion of that mode.

This title is fun and encourages you to replay tracks and get the best scores, it misses a huge opportunity with multiplayer, and while players may not care in the short run, in the long run, this could have an affect on the game and the player base.