Gravel Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions

Gravel is a nice throwback and something akin to a breath of fresh air for a racing genre recently slanting too far in the simulation range.  

The latest offering from Milestone, a developer with plenty of history on both sides of the aisle, is an Unreal Engine 4-fueled romp through vibrant scenery and differing gameplay styles still managing to classify as a pick-up-and-play effort. 

It has plenty to offer and unlock, although it lacks a bit of depth and an apparent avoidance of fleshing out good ideas—something Milestone might hope players don't notice too much because they're having too much fun with the core gameplay. 

It doesn't have much head-to-head competition, but it's clear Gravel doesn't slouch in its attempt to appeal to as many people as possible. 

Gameplay

The Unreal Engine 4 doesn't hold back here, as there are few stutters or hiccups in what is mostly fast-paced action, which is impressive considering how much can happen on the screen at once and how different each race can play. 

Engine performance doesn't matter much without good gameplay, but Gravel expertly navigates this turn well. The controls are basic—which is a good thing. Players have enough to deal with on a track-by-track basis without worrying about complicated controls. 

Making things interesting is the rewind feature, a common staple of games these days. It can help players compensate for mistakes at the cost of points. When something goofy happens with the physics—which isn't often, by the way—the rewind feature comes in handy. Collisions can provide some funny moments, though. 

Like elsewhere in the genre, Gravel comes with plenty of customizable assists. Players can turn rewind on or off. Ditto with ideal trajectory and other helpers such as braking help, transmission, stability help and more. 

Not that players should need much assistance after a few races. While a bit of a negative, many cars in a class play the same. This is somewhat balanced by interesting sliders for tuning. 

Where Gravel really gets its variety and replayability is from race and locale variety. Players can find themselves deep in thick mud on an interior track navigating slow corners in one race, then pulling off huge drifts on a beach the next. Different classes mean completely different playstyles to master. 

Regardless of venue and style, winning a race never feels impossible given the tools at a player's disposal. This has plenty of depth for those hardcore fans who want to chase leaderboard times, but a pick-up-and-play appeal sure to reach a broader audience.  

Graphics and Presentation

All this locale diversity wouldn't matter much if Milestone didn't squeeze every drop of power out of the engine. 

Not to worry—this one is a looker. 

Each distinct locale not only alters gameplay, it looks great. One track has the ocean whipping up on to shores while driving under a wrecked ship, and another has raucous crowds cheering from the stands in Los Angeles while fireworks erupt as drivers mud through checkpoints.

Adding to the immersion, a helicopter chases the action where applicable, vegetation sways in the wind, mud and raindrops pelt the windshield and tires shred through mud, kicking it up and leaving a trail. 

If there's a drawback, it's with the vehicles themselves. This isn't Forza, where every single car—even in the same class—is easily identifiable by its unique sound. Most cars in the same class here look and sound the same. This isn't a love letter to car aficionados, though—it's a muddy off-roading game meant for fun first, everything else second. 

That said, there isn't a whole lot going on around the races themselves. There are hardly any cutscenes to help flesh out the action. The narrator sounds a little bored while saying "I couldn't imagine anything more exciting if I tried." And if you're winning often, our monotone narrator will start repeating lines quickly. 

The soundtrack follows a similar slant, as guitar riffs without lyrics in the background dominate the scene (which would be a bigger deal in the past, but streaming your own music via a different app while you play is simpler than ever). 

But again, presentation is an afterthought here for the sake of fun. It's just a matter of understanding that going into the package. 

Off-Road Masters and More

This is where the hinted avoidance of fleshing out good ideas pops up. 

Off-Road Masters is a campaign mode of sorts featured on the fake network Gravel Channel. Players work their way through episodes featuring various styles, and some episodes feature head-to-head showdowns with real-life superstars where you have a chance to best them at their own game (pro tip: I totally flipped my opponent in a head-to-head indoor race and rode the huge advantage to an easy win. As a famous TV character once said, it's all in the game, yo.).

Progression through the mode is a typical star system that leads into bosses you must beat to keep advancing. Don't shudder—this star system, in particular, is generous with its requirements.

The next episode doesn't unlock until you obtain a certain number of stars, which you get in prior episodes by meeting certain goals (think, three stars for finishing in third or better). This system works well and manages to avoid feeling like a grind.

Players earn Show Points as they go, which earns a player unlocks. But these points don't offer anything tangible other than vehicles and such items, whereas it would have been nice to see them tie more into the episodic theme of the season mode.

You can jump back and forth between any episode at any time you want, leaving it feeling like the stakes are never really high. Points don't go up on a leaderboard in a competition, leaving the reality-show idea feeling half baked. 

In and out of Off-Road Masters, unexpected variety keeps things fun. Elimination, where the person in last place is eliminated at intervals, is a heart-thumping affair. Smash-Up features signs players have to hit and avoid while racing the clock. 

As mentioned above, the location of each event keeps things diverse as well. A time trial on a slick paved track while it rains feels right out of something like Gran Turismo before players bounce back to a muddy dirt arena course and then open it up for a desert sprint with huge jumps. 

While locations and styles of play are diverse, this isn't a beefy game. Other than the campaign, players have free play, time attack, multiplayer and weekly challenges. The first three are exactly what they sound like, while the last is a rotating challenge giving players the chance to see their names on global leaderboards. 

Speaking of global leaderboards, online play is fun and works well. A game like this is bound to be more enjoyable against real-world opponents as opposed to the static A.I. There's also an innovative capture-the-flag mode here, which is exactly what it sounds like, but it really brings out the arcade side of the game. 

Conclusion

Gravel is a hit for a few reasons, though chief among them is simple fun. As the genre keeps ricocheting toward the most realistic simulations possible, an outlier toeing the line of realism with a healthy handful of arcade action sticks out. 

As an aside, a lack of depth starts to rear its head the more time a player invests. But it's an issue players can overlook because the package offers a little bit of something for everyone, from ranked leaderboard jockeying to a career mode to conquer. 

A welcome addition to the market, Gravel isn't winning any awards, but it's a frustration-free experience that looks good and plays better, accomplishing the clear main goal of Milestone from the onset. It's enough to draw a broad audience at all ranges of the skill graph and have us wondering what's next for the series.