KMGR of Red Bull Soapbox Race

Image by pdgibson via Flickr

This game is not really about your typical soapbox racer, but rather a combination of keypresses. It's cute, it's customizable, but is it really soapbox race? I dunno. At least it is based on a real event.

When you begin, you need to customize your racer in terms of suspension and speed, durability, and such. The options doesn't seem to make THAT much of a difference though.

Then you need to perform a dance with your three racers. (No, I am NOT kidding) by pressing keys at random. (that's not in the real event that I know of)



Then you get to the actual race, getting a good "launch" (max the starting velocity), then head downhill, turn and dodge cones and haybales, pick up blue flags, and even make jumps. Yes, JUMPS in a soapbox racer. Pick up as many flags as possible, with the max speed, not hit anything you shouldn't, and make as many jumps as you can. You are rated in 4 areas: speed/time, flags, jumps, and mistakes (i.e. what did you run over). Again, this is a departure from the reality, where the racers are speed, creativity, and showmanship.

What I've played is quite... boring. I don't see how it really relates to soapbox racing at all. This feels like a "luge" competition, not soapbox. And you're not given any idea on how you did, until the very end. I thought great, as I got 10 on speed, and I only got 2nd place. Apparently, "style" is rated as high as actual speed.

All in all, Red Bull Soapbox Race feels like an attempt to make a game out of something that doesn't fit the phone motif that well. That dancing routine is just ridiculous. If you want to play downhill racing, there are better options than this one. The extra-stuff is just, well, fluff.

Overall rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: lots to customize, relatively simple gameplay
Cons: what do all those choices actually mean in customization? What's the dance routine doing there?
Verdict: a children's game that really belongs on the Nintendo DS, not a mobile phone