Players who are partial to such titles as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, Miniclip’s Trials and Skate may want to lycra themselves up for RageSquid’s lastest ‘do-or-die’ frenzy. Descenders takes features from the aforementioned franchises to coalesce into a be(spoke) mountain biking experience.
Gotta Go Fast!
In the first instance, Descenders looks to be representing a complete experience in the same way Forza represents racing cars. However, while still being in the “we’re working on it” phase according to the dev website, there’s a lot more to unpack and address in this seemingly nondescript Evil Knievel simulator than first meets the eye.
From the outset, players are expected to perform a series of tasks starting out with the simple “stop and go” to “How do I do that again?”. The controls are quite intuitive, though sensitivity was tweaked to get around Descenders’ featherlight steering. The option of having first, third and side-on perspectives is a given, mastery of switching between these to suit the next obstacle is an absolute must.
The ability to tune forks or even change gear is not an option, practically making BMXs out of a players’ bike. Bike cockpits appear as an artists rendition instead of the real McCoy, hopefully the cockpit will see some revision in future updates.
I’m Not Tyred…
Multiplayer is a breezy experience. Huge parks, ramps/routes with a lot of showmanship. Watching a ‘tryhard’ wheelie into a tree and racing on ahead is a rewarding experience for example. It would have been nice to see some collision physics among player avatars too, just so then five players don’t phase into each other during their synchronised 360 supermans.
In career mode, the players’ Stig-Esque avatar starts out in the first node on a multiple-choice map, each node representing a trail. The aim is to conquer as few or as many nodes as desired and to carve out a path to the destination.
Players can accomplish this by completing the procedurally-generated trails without losing all of their lives. Gaining some extra along the way and perhaps completing a bonus objective adds icing to this muddy cake.
Ups and Downs
For those players who aren’t about that objective life, riding bikes down a forest trail on Freeplay with the wind in their hair and a song in their heart is, of course, possible, rest assured. However, they’d be missing out on what sets this game apart from the ordinary.
Oddly, the game doesn’t actively encourage staying on the trail, nor does it punish players. Descenders allows itself to simply flow as players gain traction. The node system is intuitive and interesting enough, ignoring the slightly repetitive lay of the obstacles and objectives within trails of course.
Incomplete edges of maps that glitch out when players get near is an immersion breaker, but Descenders’ texture mapping is sharp. The graphical fidelity of terrain and scenery makes up for this somewhat.
Remember That Mountain Bike in Die Hard?
In a stroke of originality, maps conclude in a ‘Boss Jump’. Players will attempt some form of flip through a series of 80’s Action Film scenes (Literally?) using their remaining lives. If players decide to take their sweet time with the trails in the leadup to the jump, they’ll run out of daylight.
Fictitious sponsorships of tracks is a nice touch too. Players should check the next sponsor node’s stats before taking that route for a heads up on upcoming challenges. Another bonus to this mechanic is unlockable crewmembers with performance-boosting perks. However, the out of place character portraits made one wince somewhat.
Humans Count as Mods?
Traditionally, modification and customisation go hand in hand with the thrill of the trail. Unfortunately, only player appearance, bike model and paintwork made the cut. Having an illustrated crewmember fulfil the purpose of a physical upgrade seems like a missed opportunity. Think of the microtransactions! *slaps own hand*
Calibrating bike parts in unlockable increments to suit specific playstyles would eliminate the need for a crewmember at all. With that being said, RageSquid does have to draw the line between necessity and pleasing a somewhat niche fanbase.
The current shortcomings of Descenders are, in the grand scheme of things, nit-picks of a highly polished game. Inventive mechanics and player options leave plenty of room for innovation down the line. With its part filler – part killer approach to mountain biking, Descenders is a mixed ‘bike‘ in its current form.
What do you think means more to players? Authenticity or simply an entertaining title? Maybe that question is dependent on a games simulator or action status? Let us know in the comments.