Developed By: MIlkbag Games

Published By: MIlkbag Games

Platforms: PS4, Switch, Windows

Reviewed On: PS4PRO

MIlkbag Games is Matt Rix and Owen Goss, two talented Canadian game designers and developers who work together to create their latest effort, FutureGrind. I believe that this is their fourth effort and before moving to what the game is all about, have a taste of it in the launch trailer below;

Story

FutureGrind centres around the player who is a grind track tester of some sort who is tasked with trying out various grind vehicles in increasing difficulty and challenge. Along the way the player will befriend “Ada” a friendly face who is on the team but feels like there may be something wrong with the founder “Praxis Soma” and his obsession with building and testing grinding tracks. To be honest with you the story itself is nothing that will stick with you for a long time and not because of a lack of effort. It serves as just a basic bridge between stages to explain why the player is doing what he is doing and while you are playing the game you probably won’t care enough to follow the story while grinding. I have seen worse narratives in games though. Like way worse.

Graphics

The game is built using the Unity engine and I was quite impressed by the fluidity and stability of the game itself. It ran without bugs at all and there were no instances where things were not working as intended. The graphics are crisp and the colours pop without ever feeling overwhelming. I must make it a point to appreciate the creators taking it upon themselves to include a colourblind mode.

Presentation & Gameplay

The game is built very simply whereby the player takes control and grinds to the finish line to progress. Along the way, there will be certain conditions to meet to be able to unlock the next stage and progress further. In total there are 5 different “bikes” which include Slice, Left Coast, Gimbal, Xero, and Subverse. Each bike plays differently than the other but players won’t have too much trouble adjusting to each one. There are 26 main stages in total with additional challenges on top of that in each stage. I would say that the challenges have been fair and there is an option for players to repeat each stage to get a higher score.

What I Loved

• Graphics – I actually really like how the colours pop and it definitely helps that I didn’t feel overwhelmed or confused by the different colour schemes.
• The Grind – When I first started the game, I thought it was just a good game to pass the time but I really have to say the grinding in this game is incredibly addictive. It’s just that good to be able to grind and pull off tricks and survive.

What I Wished Was Better

• Story – I mean this might be a minor nitpick as I don’t think it could have been done any better as I just wanted to grind.
• Music – The music in this game fits so perfectly. It really reminded me so much of the music from Furi. Unfortunately, it feels like there were only 3-4 tracks and as the game can get difficult and the player will be dying a lot, listening to the same tracks played over and over again can get old fast.
• Difficulty Spikes – Don’t get me wrong I like a challenge in games but in this game, there were moments (especially the absolute final stage) where I felt that it was unfairly hard. Although I managed to get through most of them, I gave up on the last stage and just turned on easy mode so I could just finish the game.

Verdict

I really like FutureGrind, more than I thought I would. I am not usually into games such as Trials or Joe Danger but this game got me hooked. The graphics combined with the music and the almost perfect grinding made this game hypnotically addictive. No matter how many times I failed each stage I just kept on going and trying different tricks and paths to get to the end. It drove me bloody insane at times but it was out of sheer determination and getting that satisfaction of passing that stage. There is enough variation and length here that justifies a purchase.

Final Score – 8.5/10