0 Street Trace: NYC

When a fully realized three dimensional game appears on a download service, most people’s natural reaction, fairly or otherwise, is to assume that it will pale in comparison to the bigger. The assumption can be prove unjustified, as was the case with Warhawk, but this instance it’s hard to imagine, Street Trace NYC making any kind of impact outside Live Arcade.

Although the idea behind Street Trace arena and track based deathmathces with hoverboards, is sound in theory, the execution is somewhat lacking. Seemingly inspired by the lackluster Kirby Air Ride, the boarders in Street Trace constantly move forward and can only negotiate tight corners by breaking to a stop, swiveling around and zooming off again. In race mode this leads to constant collisions with dead ends or infuriating leaps into bottomless pits. When it comes to arena deathmatches, things fare little better as players find themselves endlessly circling each other battling with the aiming reticule, which annoyingly, cannot be inverted.

And if you thought those problems weren’t enough, there’s also the fact that the hoverboards themselves are completely unconvincing, with no bounce or weight to them at all. Even, those who are willing to outlook such issues will ultimately find that street Trace boils down to a mostly random arena shooter where victory is assured through lucky button mashing rather than any kind of skill.