Dash Dash World

Review

You and eight other competitors are sitting right behind the starting line, and in three seconds from now all hell will break loose in a short three-lap race. You’ll be driving your heart out and using any powerups and items that you come across on the road to snatch the victory! Unfortunately for you, all the other contestants will be able to do the same and make your race a memorable failure! The countdown is about to start! Rev up your engine and enjoy the crazy racing in the fun VR Dash Dash World!

Dash Dash World is a VR racing game developed and self-published by MOTIONX STUDIO and is currently available as an Early Access game on the Steam platform.  I played this game with the HTC Vive Cosmos Elite setup.

I strongly recommend checking the controller setup before launching either a practice, career or online game. In my case, the initial HTC controls were too sensitive.  Using the round mouse button to drive the car was far too difficult, as I had to accelerate, drive and drift with the same button. One of the two other alternatives was to tilt the left controller left and right to steer, which resolved my issue instantly. Also, Logitech, Fanatec and Thrustmaster wheels are supported, which is another great benefit for the game and the gamer.

As it is early access, the game has 11 races so far and you can play a practice game, a career mode or online against other players. Personally, I do like practising before launching myself on a career mode or against other players online. In the career mode, you have to perform specific tasks per race to earn the ultimate three golden stars. You might need to drift your car for a certain number of seconds during the entire race, cross the finishing line under a specific time, or use a certain number of weapons/items during the race, to mention a few tasks. The real fun is to play online against other players, and I must say that I was a bit worried about this. Not because of the game itself but because of the potential number of people actually playing online, and the wait between each game.  To my pleasant surprise, I only had to wait for 2 to 5 minutes between race session, which is pretty good in my books.

I haven’t personally set up a game, but I entered plenty of them during my game time; its either playing one race or a Grand Prix, which is three different races. Out of the eight contestants, four (including yourself) are players, and the other four are bots. In a Grand Prix session, each race winner will score 8 points, while last place will score a big fat zero! And at the end of the three races, the one who scores the most points will be the winner.  You’ll also score experience points which will help you levelling up and unlocking new things, such as new emotes, cars, poses and other cool things. There’s plenty of customisation (which I love getting into) while waiting for the matchmaking to find a new game.

The gameplay is so much fun! You usually have to do 3 laps, and it’s full-on from the start. Each of the races are of medium length, which I really like. Every so often, you’ll see light blue boxes on the road with a question mark on them; drive through them and you’ll get a powerup and create mayhem for your opponents. I really enjoy the homing bird and the chicken that shoot eggs, and there are others. However, one of the boxes might change form and become a spiky trunk which needs to be avoided; otherwise, you’ll be slowed down instantly. Each level has a different theme, and each theme has specific obstacles to avoid, which is fun. Mind you, they seem to appear or be dropped on the same spot over and over again, which is a bit boring after a while. The other thing to look for is these yellow rectangles on the road; drive over them and you’ll receive a boost of speed. If they are roundish, avoid them at all costs; a contestant dropped a beehive on the road, and it really slowed me down! You’ll also have batteries scattered on each circuit; pick up as many as possible, it will regenerate your internal car booster so you can use it again!

The other concern I had before playing this game was the feel of speed. I love playing these types of games with my friends and family, but you know what to expect when you are playing a console game such as Mario Kart. It has to be fun, hectic, and arcadish! To my surprise, I had all the above, including a good sense a speed, in VR which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Did I have any issues with the game while playing? Yes, and the most frequent issue was the sound that didn’t come on when I initially launched the game; I had to turn Steam VR off and on again and relaunch the game for the sound to work. This next issue may be a bit picky, but the opponent’s characters looked weird while waiting for the next race to load. It looked like they’d had a really bad chiropractic session before coming online!  Personally, I would like to see more track; if you keep playing the same track over and over it becomes boring! But you also have daily quests, which spices it up a bit!

Great cartoony graphics and the soundtrack is groovy! Stunning character/car customisation and plenty of car boxes (skins, items) to unlock, which is a great thing to do while you’re waiting for your next race(s).

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com