Onrush (PS4, PC, XBO) - Codemasters/Evolution Studios

Both Playground Games and Evolution were made up at start of ex Bizarre Creations, Codemaster and Criterian folk right?

With Evolution being signed up by Sony who dominate this gen it's crazy how things went ultimately. Hopefully Playground can take some of them on, especially since they have a new studio.

Dang, it's sad to see that the game has not performed in sales terms and that some people are now losing their jobs.

jawafour wrote:I recognise that we're only half-way through... but OnRush is becoming a contender for my GOTY. It seems to have garnered little attention and been a flop sales-wise but I love it. It's exciting, moreish and downright rambunctious!

I was hoping that my hugely positive post would have boosted sales, but seemingly not

.

I really like on rush. This sucks.

It's a shitty thing for people to lose their jobs, however there's a couple of things that hurt this (imo) from the start:

1. The name - I feel it was named after 'Rushy' to pander to the Gaf crowd who (rightly) fawned over him in the driveclub threads. To anyone else, what does that name even mean? It doesn't say anything about the type of game it is. If this was called something similar to motorstorm it would have sold more on that alone.

2. What type of game it was billed as - I absolutely love a good racing game, driveclub being one of my favourite ever arcade racers, but this was touted as a racing game where you don't race and don't have to be good at racing. strawberry float that, not interested.

Ad7 wrote:What type of game it was billed as - I absolutely love a good racing game, driveclub being one of my favourite ever arcade racers, but this was touted as a racing game where you don't race and don't have to be good at racing. strawberry float that, not interested.

I'm sure I said it before, but I understand the rationale - racing games are not as popular as team-based games like overwatch, dota or some bits of fortnite. So lets make a more team-based game with all the trappings of other genres.

The problem is that the casual audience they're trying to attract with this are already playing fortnite, overwatch etc. while people who like the no-fun SRS BSNSS racers balk at the lack of 'racing'. I would be pleasantly surprised if CM retooled this or added a conventional race mode that is a carbon copy of Motorstorn, but i expect this will be left to wither on the vine. I bought this on launch and flipped it after a few days, but i'll definitely pick it up again at some point for the singleplayer and as a driving/racing curio.

Evo and Rushy just can’t catch a break, I’m not sure if it’s a bad decision making thing or just being victims of industry circumstance.

Writing was on the wall with Onrush after the beta though, it’s a fish out of water in today’s market. It’s sad but the market for racing games seems to have narrowed. A follow up to Driveclub would probably have done better because despite the poor launch I think perception of that game rightly turned around, because it’s one of the best racers ever made. Unfortunately that would have taken probably another year or two and that’s not what Codemasters wanted obviously.

It had a chance to be a breakout hit just because it was so different. Obviously that chance didn't materialise as by the time it shipped no-one had heard of the game and they were trying to flog it for £55, which is borderline offensive.

9/10 from Gamespot, EG Recommended, IGN 8.2 - it was a decent game; with a competitive price and greater than zero marketing it might have done alright.

Gutted for the guys up at Evo.

I played that freeplay weekend and I just didn't understand it. Probably the worst "game" I've played in modern times.

the eponymous bollock wrote:Evo and Rushy just can’t catch a break, I’m not sure if it’s a bad decision making thing or just being victims of industry circumstance.

Writing was on the wall with Onrush after the beta though, it’s a fish out of water in today’s market. It’s sad but the market for racing games seems to have narrowed. A follow up to Driveclub would probably have done better because despite the poor launch I think perception of that game rightly turned around, because it’s one of the best racers ever made. Unfortunately that would have taken probably another year or two and that’s not what Codemasters wanted obviously.

Agree with this. I would have loved a Driveclub like game with some new cities, a spiritual successor to one of the best racing games.

I really like OnRush. It doesn't play how some folk may expect, though; it's nothing like DriveClub or MotorStorm and, to be fair, the developer hasn't suggested it was.

You have different goals depending on the game mode. There isn't really a "finish line" and you race until the appropriate goal is achieved by one of the two competing teams. A really neat thing is that if you fall out of the main action point in a race, you're automatically moved back into that area after a few seconds, ensuring that you're always in the rough and tumble of the action.

It can feel a bit bewildering when you start but, after a short while, you pick things up and get into the flow. The game is looking to be a cult hit; something that maybe hasn't sold well nor gained much attention but, for those who dig it, it's terrific.

jawafour wrote:I really like OnRush etc.

You posting this got me thinking about another car game you've talked positively about. In an alternate universe Onrush is the multiplayer/quick play mode of the Mad Max game.

Photek wrote:Both Playground Games and Evolution were made up at start of ex Bizarre Creations, Codemaster and Criterian folk right?

Evolution was formed by Martin Kenwright and Ian Hetherington at the end of the 90s after Kenwright left Digital Image Designs.

With Evolution being signed up by Sony who dominate this gen it's crazy how things went ultimately.

Being part of a big company just means it's easier for them to shut you down. Evolution dropped the ball with DriveClub, Sony were clearly not impressed. Motorstorm was good and had a fanbase, but never really set the gaming world alight. Its sales figures were massively inflated by bundle deals.

Coincidentally I was looking for work a few years ago and the job recruitment agency was pushing me to consider Bizarre Creations. I wasn't keen because they were part of Activision and Blur hadn't done the business. They were shut down a week later.

Fast forward to three weeks ago, I'm looking for work in the UK again and the job recruitment agency was pushing me to consider Codemasters/Evo in Runcorn. I wasn't keen because OnRush hadn't done the business...

The recruitment agency are telling me it's 'business as usual' in Runcorn, but...

...it's a gooseberry fool business.

Trelliz wrote:
jawafour wrote:I really like OnRush etc.

You posting this got me thinking about another car game you've talked positively about. In an alternate universe Onrush is the multiplayer/quick play mode of the Mad Max game.

Haha! Yeah, OnRush certainly has that kind of all-out intensity. There is a "free-to-start" online game called CrossOut; I haven"t played it yet but you build up your own vehicles and race/crush rivals. Related to Mad Max, I think that Rage 2 appears to be taking elements of the game and upping the carnage factor.

As for OnRush, I think the lack of advertising and the high price point hurt it. £55 on digital stores is too much in my view - even though most "big" games slavishly use that cost mark. I paid £27 in the sale (less through buying credit from CD Keys) and I feel more than happy with that. The offer runs until the end of tomorrow, 25 July.

I've played cross out it's more like twisted metal with crafting. Wasn't a fan personally

If Sony had stuck with DriveClub I think it could have become quite an amazing online experience that didn't require all that much work to just keep going for years.

The basics were in place and they could have made it multigenerational with minimal effort and adding new tracks and game modes now and then would have kept it fresh and people coming back for more.

£18.99 on sale today on the PSN. Is there enough of a community for this kind of price drop to make it worthwhile or is it dead in the water already?

Rex Kramer wrote:£18.99 on sale today on the PSN. Is there enough of a community for this kind of price drop to make it worthwhile or is it dead in the water already?

It entered the sales charts at no. 34 then vanished, so make of that what you will. You could instead get Baja: Edge of Control HD for £5 in the sale, which is a remaster of an underrated offroad racing gem that is more conventional in its racing structure.

Showing as available on Game Pass on xbox now if you search the store for it, hopefully this will get it a bigger audience on the Xbox at least, maybe if it does well word of mouth will see to a bump in sales for non games pass users and PS4 gamers too maybe. Might help sell some DLC too. It's a fun game so it's a shame it bombed so hard, I got it at launch. Traded it in a month or so ago as none of my mates got hold of it, hopefully with gamepass that'll change now.

I've already posted in this thread (several times :slol:

) about my views on the game... it's great!

It's definitely not your typical arcade racer. The objective is not really to be first across the finish line but to meet "objectives" and these can vary depending on the type of race. It takes a little getting used to but, once it clicks, it's tremendous. As I posted before, I feel that the £55 launch price was a stretch but I paid £30 and have been very comfortable with that; at £19 it's a cracking deal.

I haven't played for a few weeks and this has reminded me to jump back in. Will join the chaos tonight :-)

.

I played it a lot over the free weekend and will pick it up again in the Pass. It felt more like a Rocket League style experience and perhaps would have benefitted from that price point. A fun game nonetheless.

Played quite a bit of this over the weekend, with it being a PS Plus game this month.

My five year old son loves it. As there's no positions (so he doesn't come last all the time), or finish line, and it catches him up to the pack if he falls behind.
He can just drive really fast and crash into things.
And it looks gorgeous.

For me though, it's only good in 30-minute blasts. It gets very repetitive.

Onrush (PS4, PC, XBO) - Codemasters/Evolution Studios

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