I wanted to start this review with some nice statement about how good racing games have been lately. I wanted to start listing tons of racing titles in the first paragraph and then proceed talking about Onrush, the new title from racing kings Codemasters. It wouldn’t have been right to do so, because labeling Onrush as just another racing game would be completely wrong. The best way to start off this review is by stating the following: Onrush is amazing, one of the best games I’ve played this year so far.

Onrush is a big gaming Chimera. Created by former Motorstorm developers, the game features the same class-based system from those older games, the car-crashing combat and nitrous boost system you’d find in Burnout, the aggressiveness from the classic Destruction Derby series and, curiously enough, a huge influence from MOBAs. This is no racing game, this is more of a combat-focused MOBA with cars than anything else, with the big difference being the fact you can easily enjoy the game on your own due to the inclusion of great career and arcade modes.

There’s no such thing as a normal racing mode featuring laps and positions in this game. You may choose between a variety of other rulesets, though. In “Overdrive,” your team’s objective is to boost more than your opponent, reaching a determined boost goal. “Lockdown” acts as a King of the Hill mode of sorts, with the difference that the target zone is always moving. “Switch” is a more traditional deathmatch featuring lives and the opportunity to pick up a bigger and more armored vehicle when you die. Finally, there’s “Countdown,” in which the main objective is to constantly pass through checkpoints in order to increase your remaining timer.

The game doesn’t feature licensed cars, nor a big variety of vehicles to drive. In true MOBA fashion, you can choose between vehicle classes, each one with its own strengths and weaknesses. Motorcycles are faster and easier to maneuver, but are fragile; bigger SUVs are slower but pack a bigger punch, for instance. The game doesn’t offer a large amount of tracks either, and while that would be considered a big negative, its incredible gameplay and replayability are more than enough to compensate for that.

There’s no other way to say this: Onrush‘s gameplay is insane. The game is fast-paced. The game promotes chaos and destruction above anything else. The game doesn’t want you to be the fastest driver out there, it wants you to be the craziest destruction maniac possible, in true Mad Max fashion. There’s no such thing as tight corners or drifting: each course is masterfully designed in order to allow you to drive at full speed as much as possible. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t traps or obstacles scattered throughout the racetracks, as you’ll need to constantly dodge all of the above, as well as jump off ramps in order to incrase your nitrous gauge.

While the car designs and the textures aren’t exactly the most exciting, I can’t complain about Onrush‘s graphics. The framerate is always fast and constant, even when there are tons of cars and particle effects onscreen. The soundtrack is easily one of the game’s highlights. The song list is a confusing mess comprised of various genres, including dancehall, drum n bass, and hardcore punk, but all of the songs included in this game do an excellent job at keeping the adrenaline levels at sky-high proportions.

Onrush is just an absolute blast to play. Codemasters has managed to deliver a great mixture of vehicular arcade action and MOBA-oriented combat, something completely fresh and infinitely replayable. This is one of the best games featuring cars (can’t properly call it a racing game) in recent years and one of my favorite titles from 2018 so far.

Let me show you a bit of how crazy Onrush‘s gameplay is with the following video. I apologize in advance, I’m not exactly the best combat driver out there.

 

Graphics: 8.5 The car models and the the textures aren’t exactly exciting, but the amount of cars and particles onscreen, as well as the excellent framerate more than make up for those small issues.	Gameplay: 9.0 Just get a hold of every single car’s special moves and attacks. Besides this, the gameplay is easy to learn and extremely fast-paced.
Sound: 9.5 Onrush features an excellent soundtrack comprised of a great mixture of electronic and alternative rock tunes.	Fun Factor: 9.0 Onrush overcomes its small amount of tracks with its insane gameplay, awesome multiplayer and near-infinite replayability.
Final Verdict: 9.0

Reviewed on PS4.
Also available on: Xbox One