There’s a new genre trying to get a foot into the gaming community. This being speedrunning games. One of the most popular ones out there as to this date seems to be one aptly called “Speedrunners”. And you can clearly see why! It’s a local or multiplayer experience that ‘s actually quite a bit of fun if you learn the track ‘s mechanics. So obviously developers are trying to rival its success, sometimes they achieve this, other times? Well, the entire opposite. Me myself? I am not the biggest fan of these kinds of games just due to the fact that they’re just so narrow and talk to a very small niche of the gaming community. But that doesn’t subtract that they can actually be fun. I’ve had a few laughs while playing Speedrunners. But I’m always wary when it comes down to these. Nothing was more so when I got Must Dash Amigos to review. I actually didn’t know how to tackle this one, as there is actually not much to write about it. But I’ll give it a swing and hopefully clear up some of the smoke that surrounds this one. Put on your track shoes everyone, because this will be over before you know it!
What do you do? You don’t actually do much. You either run laps, run from stampeding bulls or do a mode that only is designed to mess around with your mind. You’ve got a few runners and you can unlock skins for them. That’s basically about it…
- Soundtrack: For a game that’s clearly Mexican based, the soundtrack is actually pretty fun. It gets you in the right mindset and carries you along the paths for you to run along. They’re never overcompensating and at times you won’t even notice there’s music playing, even though there is actually music there. Other than this, there isn’t much more to be said about the audio quality in itself. You can clearly understand everything that’s going on around you.
- Suited for the young’uns: Because the game’s characters are all created to look a bit loopy and crazy? This would suit perfectly for a younger audience. In a game like speedrunners, they aren’t really geared to look something you’d want your kid to be playing around with at first. But these ones? Yeah, they’re all child-friendly.
- Tracks: What actually surprised me the most, is the number of tracks and biomes there are for you to actually be galavanting through. Not only are there multiple biomes, but each of these run with a few tracks that are wildly different. You’ve got the regular running. And you’ve got challenges, most of em are good but there’s one that… Ugh, draws the blood right from under my fingernails.
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- Graphics: Don’t go expecting all too much from the graphical quality in Must Dash Amigos. Sure it looks okay but, it actually didn’t do it for me. And believe me, I like me some cell-shaded graphics. Yet, this? Meh. The colors are nice and fresh, but everything just feels a bit to squared off. I’m missing that final oomph to pull me over the line to really start liking it.
- Gets boring: While there are quite a bit of track and biomes for you to run through, and the challenges are there? It doesn’t really last long. It’s the same every time and you don’t really feel like you’ve got quite a bit of variety even though it’s actually present. It got a chuckle out of me on a few rare occasions but that’s about it. In my opinion? It’s best enjoyed in short bursts and then leave it alone for a day or 2.
- Bull running challenge: As I previously stated, the game’s got challenges. And most of these feel okay. One is challenging while another is just really easy. But there’s one in here that absolutely sucked the joy out of the game for me. And that’s the bull running challenge. In this one, you have to run away from a group of stampeding bulls that you cannot shake off. You’ve got to use power-ups that you find along the way. These are like the Mario Kart squares. You go over them and a random power-up is given. In the other challenges, you’ve got the time to check if you need it, or can throw away. In this one? Even the loss of one second spells death. There is no lee-way for you to decide to either “keep” or “throw it away”. So the moment you go over one of these power-up lama’s you are gonna be pressing the use power-up button. Most of the time you’ll luck out and gain a speed boost or otherwise. But sometimes you’ll blow yourself up because you carried a bomb. Spelling into immediate death since this one slows you down to NO END! It looks as if they didn’t test out the catch-up time/rate and it just doesn’t feel like a fun mode to run through.
CONCLUSION
Score 60%
While Must Dash Amigos is an actual fun party game, I wouldn’t really recommend it if you’re going to be playing it solo. And if you do buy it, enjoy it in modest moderation as you’ll burn up your enjoyment quicker than you’ll gain enjoyment out of it. Must Dash Amigo’s is that kind of game that you’ll love to hate, but frustration will keep pulling you back in.
Developer: miniBeast Game Studios Publisher: miniBeast Game Studios
Played on: Xbox One X Also available on: PS4 – Switch and PC
Alexis ran for 4 hours on end during his game time… That’s a lot more than he does now!
Achievement difficulty for 1000 Gamerscore: 15+ hours should do the trick
Perfect for: Party gamers.
Xbox Game Store link: Click here