MyGPTeam Turbo Review
MyGPTeam Turbo
Publisher: Interactive Project Srl
Developer: Interactive Project Srl
Genre:
PEGI: E
Comments:
MyGPTeam Turbo – Review
MyGPTeam is a Grand Prix title with a difference. Available on the Google Play store via Android mobile devices, it gives you the chance to win races against people from all over the world without needing to hold your phone like a steering wheel or get used to any complicated controls.
It’s an online casual free-to-play driving title that challenges you to keep up with your opponents, and in terms of gameplay, it does it very well.
Full of Energy
Really, the bulk of MyGPTeam Turbo currently consists of racing against other people, hitting the right button at the right time, and picking the right playstyle for your racer. It’s very simple to get into and, despite the initial challenge in understanding what it is you’re actually supposed to do (it could use a small tutorial, just so certain moves are more clearly labelled), very enjoyable. It’s this simplicity that makes each race so much fun. Everybody is a near-expert, and it becomes almost like a game of chicken – who is going to screw up first?
Buttons pop up on the screen. You need to press them at the right moment to maximize their effectiveness. MyGPTeam is still in on-going development, so it’ll be nice to see some hard variations at some point, but now this works fine. It doesn’t get old, it doesn’t feel overly involved or as if you don’t have to concentrate. It’s just right. For five to ten minute bursts, the developers have hit the balance perfectly.
With more tracks, this mode alone would probably be enough to keep you coming back, but there’s more.
You can customize your vehicle, upgrading the engine, wheels and chassis. These give you several advantages, although I can’t say I’ve ever felt disadvantaged in a race. I can see how this might potentially lead to difficulty for new racers in the long run, as older players take over, but so far it doesn’t seem terribly obvious. With that said, it’s hard to test this specific balance out without knowing for sure what everybody else has. I never had any problem coming first without any upgrades.
There are other upgrades you can get as well. You can hire new racers, often with slightly better skills upon which to build, and you can run through several training mini-games.
You’ll probably get a glimpse at all of this in your first few hours of play. Then you’ll be told you’ve run out of energy and you’ll be forced to wait or pay.
Burning the Midnight Oil
If you play for any length of time – especially if you do the training missions – you’ll soon run out of energy and will have to stop playing. It takes some four hours to replenish the energy. This is far too long. It can be infinitely frustrating to be just getting into things, and then to be told you’ll need to wait for hours on end to be able to continue.
The alternative is, you guessed it, to pay to carry on. This comes in the form of two in-game currencies. One you use to upgrade your things (and it seems fairly easy to collect), while the other skips waiting periods after purchases and, yes, when energy is depleted. This seems impossible to collect.
The pricing is a little high as well. So even if you don’t mind paying to continue, you might find yourself hesitating at the high price. Nobody wants to spend over £2 to fill energy that will be depleted again within a few games.
Considering what I feel is rather well-balanced gameplay, I find it hard to believe the developers didn’t know exactly what they were doing here in terms of amount of gameplay/cost of energy. From my time with MyGPTeam Turbo, I can say it could definitely use being skewed back towards the player.
MyGPTeam Turbo
MyGPTeam Turbo is a decent enough title. It looks nice, it plays well – when it’s finished development I can’t help but feel it’ll be a force to be reckoned with. At that point, we’ll revisit and decide how many of the smaller problems still hold it back.
For there are smaller problems. Very occasional glitches make text disappear, and the balance of energy and cost is one of the worst I’ve seen. That reason alone is enough to hinder enjoyment, and unless you really love the gameplay (and there’s a chance you might), it’ll put you off the first time you’re made to wait.
Not for everybody – especially not for gamers looking for a more core driving experience – but fine for what it is. With a little polish, MyGPTeam Turbo could really be worth keeping an eye on.
Positives
- Simple, fun mini-game style casual racing title
- Plenty of people playing
- Graphics are nice and are bound to get better as development continues
Negatives
- Very rare glitches will make you restart app
- Energy depletes too quickly, you’ll need to wait four hours for it to fully come back
- …Or you can pay! That’s if you’re happy to pay too much for energy that’s used up too fast…
Trailer
Article By Mat Growcott
Mat Growcott has been a long-time member of the gaming press. He's written two books and a web series, and doesn't have nearly enough time to play the games he writes about.
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