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[Alex Connolly]

A quick and dirty OT for the slow and dirty, 1C-Avalon offers a gutsy offroad experience that scratches the itch you never knew you had.

About Off-Road Drive:

Off-Road Drive is the next title in the famous off-road driving simulation series. Cross-country driving in specially tuned Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) is the real challenge for determined and tough extreme sports drivers. This sport becomes more and more popular across the world every day.

Off-Road Drive lets players participate in various international competitions never seen before in a video game. All virtual contests are the exact duplicates of the real ones, including various extreme driving and use of the rules established by the international auto sports federations. Vehicles in the game have the same features as the real prototypes. Each one belongs to a certain class suitable for certain competitions and fully complies with the international requirements. While completing the tracks in varying difficulties, players not only control the speed and heading of the vehicle, but locking the main, front and rear differential gears, using the winch, shifting into low gear and adjusting tire pressure.

Off-road vehicles are usually tuned by their owners to increase their power and controllability and to add various helpful accessories: winches for pulling out a bogged down vehicle (by fastening it to nearby tree, for example), snorkel – a device for deep fording, etc.

In addition, the suspension may be lifted to increase the ground clearance while installing a compressor would make adjusting the tire pressure for the current surface possible. These and other modifications will turn the common SUV into a real “off-road monster”.

Features:

State-of-the-art Unreal Engine 3 provides for stunning visuals and a realistic physics model: off-road vehicle behavior is simulated using real-world parameters, including vehicle suspension type and resistance of the environment. Depending on driver actions, the vehicle can bog down, stall or skid.

New specially modified off-road vehicles, including exotic ones like the Russian UAZ.
Unprecedented tuning abilities: compressor for adjusting tire pressure, winch, snorkel, suspension lifting and others.

Various international competitions including Petronas Suvium Silverstone Challenge in Thailand, the largest Russian Ladoga-trophy raid and many more.

Dozens of the hardest tracks with plenty of difficult obstacles such as swamps, mud, water bodies, steep slopes, quick sands and rock blockages.

Various multiplayer modes via Internet and LAN.

Information:

Release: September 30, 2011
Platform: PC
Price: $35USD approx.
Available Vendors: GamersGate / Steam

Peripheral Support:

Mouse/Keyboard
Logitech G25 / Pos.
Logitech Momo
Logitech Driving Force Pro
360 Gamepad
Viper Pro Wheel

System Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/Win7
Processor: Intel Pentium IV 2 GHz
Memory: 1 GB
Video card: DirectX 9.0 compatible video card with 256 MB RAM
Sound card: DirectX 9.0 compatible
Hard disc: 8 GB

Vehicles:

Images:

Videos:

Trailer
HD Gameplay
Gameplay 2

Reviews:

IRBGamers

The game has a lot of technicality during the races, keeping fingers more busy compared to just using them for steering and speed. It’s fun to tackle the obstacles—while stressing a lot on the difficulty—and who doesn’t love restarting the race over and over again? In all seriousness, though, the game is one that brought entertainment to us and was something much more different from anything else we’ve seen in a driving/racing game.

WeGotThisCovered

I cannot stress enough the amount of interest you need in this kind of game in order to justify the purchase. It’s not the kind of game that you could enjoy just because it’s a racing game. Off-Road Drive is very different. It’s a kind of different that can either be very good or very bad, and in my experiences, there are very, very few gamers that would love to sit at a computer and struggle to get a car over obstacles for hours on end.

Links:

Official Site
Russian Demo

Gamersyde Preview and good batch of Vids

---

Anecdotes:

I heartily implore racing fans to check this one out, but on the proviso that this is NOT your average offroad experience, ala Dirt. The notion of mudding and rock-traversal - a niche within motorsports itself - is well-represented here, with each race a relatively slow and measured experience. There's great satisfaction in working your way into, through and out of a bog or over incredibly rocky terrain. You'll need to adjust wheel and axle diffs, tire pressure, effectively use low gearing and understand the application of speed and torque. This game is not for everyone, but I propose that many will be surprised at just how fun the puzzle-like experience can be.

If you're into light tuning, don't mind reattempting courses and want to revel in a true offroad experience, this is one to check out.

 

[Flunkie]

I tried figuring out the Russian demo a few months back, as the concept seemed interesting. Even though I didn't figure everything out, I played it enough to figure out that it was very rough around the edges. I was expecting the physics to be a lot better than they actually are. If there was an English demo, I might be inclined to try that out, and thus, give the game a second chance. The very theme of the game seems refreshing.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Added the supported peripherals/wheels/pads to the OP.

Flunk, I hear you. I do reckon it's worth investigating, especially translated. There's a satisfying art to utilising all the onboard systems of your mud plugger to surmount serious terrain. There is certainly an element of frustration, but it's one of those crazy titles that proffer a terrific sense of achievement simply by making it through a swamp.

 

[Salsa]

 

[Alex Connolly]

Of course you do, Salsa.

 

[Ravenn17]

How much content is there? Is it enough to justify $35?

 

[Gravijah]

now i want to play super off road

 

[Alex Connolly]

How much content is there? Is it enough to justify $35?

Quite a lot, as far as I'm concerned. The main issue some people might have with it are that there is only a career mode in the single player campaign, as it were. So, free racing appears to be something akin to once you've passed events, they're free to choose.

Anyway, here're some screenies of other aspects/menus of the game:

This is the race options screen within a particular country. There are multiple events in a particular place, each consisting of a number of races per event.

The region/country selection screen.

Vehicle selection screen.

Tuning screen.

 

[Submarino Conversível]

I do want this, I played a Hummer game few years back on OG Xbox that was shite but I loved anyway. This seems to have more dept. I'm watching the gameplay video on YT.

 

[Alex Connolly]

I'm yet to try out the multiplayer, but I suspect it'll be one of those terrific, intimate affairs better suited to head to head racing. Must be something about this time of year...last year it was the awesome Apache: Air Assault, this year, ORD.

 

[Aguirre]

I think there's more vehicles than what there is in the op:

land cruiser amazon:

 

[Alex Connolly]

Possibly the case, I might have missed some vehicles when scouring for images.

Needless to say, the game runs like a dream and has rather modest system requirements.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Wish this was on consoles

 

[Alex Connolly]

Wish this was on consoles

There is or was a 360 version planned. I've not heard anything about it, and they seem to be pushing the "PC exclusive" tagline now, so sadly, there doesn't seem to be much hope. I'd probably want to put that to Subversus, Dick Laurent or Joseph Merrick...they know the score when it comes to Eastern Bloc publishers and devs more than many.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Added a couple of small site reviews to the OP, as it seems like it'll be another title not given its dues by the big review sites.

Also added to the links section is a Gamersyde preview of sorts, with some great vids showcasing a few different locations. The Russian Lagoda vid is especially good.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Plugged in my Logitech DFP and it's pure awesome. Any fellow packing a wheel and longing for something a little different, this is it.

 

[BladeRunner12]

It's been given 7/10 from Strategy Informer.

 

[SmokyDave]

I really can't afford this (time or money) at the moment but it looks awesome. Nice to see an OT for it.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Smokey, I'll keep an eye out for it when it inevitably goes on sale. There will be a bump as soon as it happens!

Quietest OT in the world, but I reckon a lot of folks who're looking for something a little different would get a real kick out of it.

*goes off to read the SI review*