Roundabout (video game)

Roundabout is an open world indie racing video game developed and published by American indie studio No Goblin LLC. It was released for Windows, Mac and Linux on September 18, 2014, for Xbox One on February 20, 2015, and for PlayStation 4 on May 26, 2015. A PlayStation Vita port was released on June 26, 2018, as a cross-buy title with the PlayStation 4 version.

Not to be confused with Runabout (series).
Roundabout
Developer(s)No Goblin LLC
Publisher(s)No Goblin LLC
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
ReleaseWindows, OS X, Linux
September 18, 2014[1]
Xbox One
February 20, 2015[1]
PlayStation 4
May 26, 2015[2]
PlayStation Vita
June 26, 2018[1]
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

The game involves a constantly-rotating limousine which the player has to drive around an open world while completing miscellaneous objectives such as picking up and dropping people off or finding collectible items. The gameplay has been described as inspired by Kuru Kuru Kururin (where the player also controls a constantly-rotating vehicle), and Crazy Taxi (where the goal of the game is to drive Non-player characters from one location to another).

Gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay

The player drives a constantly revolving limousine, and must deliver passengers (introduced through full motion video cutscenes) to their intended destinations while avoiding obstacles.

Plot
A full-motion video sequence of passenger Charles Maximilian

In 1977, Georgio Manos becomes the world's first revolving limousine driver, taxiing the citizens of the city of Roundabout to various destinations. A frequent passenger named Elizabeth earns Georgio's deep admiration, and a romance begins to develop between the two. Georgio also develops a rivalry with Ronaldo, another limousine driver who steals Georgio's technique and overtakes her as the #1 revolving limousine driver in the city. Desperate to defeat Ronaldo, Georgio acquires some candy dots with the help of Mickey the mechanic, which causes Georgio to hallucinate and see Jeffrey the Skeleton. Guided by Jeffrey in a candy-dot-fueled frenzy, Georgio goes on a murderous rampage through the city. Spurred on by Elizabeth, Georgio then challenges Ronaldo to a race, during which she runs Ronaldo off the road, destroying his car and killing him.

Six months later, Georgio has retreated to the northern mountains out of shame, as destroying someone else's car is akin to treason in Roundabout. Having lost Elizabeth and running low on candy dots, Jeffrey urges Georgio to get their act back together and win back Elizabeth's heart. At the same time, Georgio is hounded by Ge-Op (Georgio Operations), a police squad tasked with hunting her down. In the end, Georgio and Elizabeth are reunited, and Elizabeth explains that she is tired of Georgio's constant spinning, pleading with Georgio to drive straight for even a little while. After Georgio awkwardly attempts to drive straight, Elizabeth decides that she should not force Georgio to be someone she is not, and the two drive off into the sunset together.

Reception

The game's PC received favorable reviews, while the Xbox One version received mixed reviews upon release.[3][4] Dave Tach of Polygon praised the game stating "Combining elements from driving, puzzle and FMV games without becoming a product of one genre" and saying that the developers made "a unique hybrid."[5]

Phil Kennedy of Push Square criticized the game's lack of content saying "Failure of missions is impossible with death just meaning a respawn a short distance away." As a result he said he "breezed through the game relatively quickly, with each mission taking around five minutes and the story about three hours in total." He didn't feel "particularly inclined to revisit any of the stages a second time in an attempt to better our scores."[6]

IGN Spain called it "a disappointing game that was aiming to become the next Crazy Taxi but fails on achieving it. Short, ugly and not even funny"[7]

References
  1. "Roundabout official press kit". Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  2. "Roundabout on PS4". IGN. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  3. "Roundabout Xbox One". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  4. "Roundabout PC". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  5. Tach, Dave (September 25, 2014). "Roundabout Review: Taxi Driver". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 15, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  6. Kennedy, Phil (10 June 2015). "I'm spinning around". PushSquare. Gamer Network Ltd. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  7. Artero, Javier (February 26, 2015). "El juego de conducción más raro jamás jugado" [The rarest driving game ever played]. IGN Spain (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 July 2015.
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