Ford Racing goes off-road on PSP
Land Rover joins the race too
Empire brand Xplosiv has announced new Ford racing game Off Road will be heading to PSP in March. Empire has already released several Ford games through its licensing deal with the company, including Ford Street Racing: LA Duel for PSP. The latest game however, which is coming to PS2, Wii and PC as well as PSP, will be the first to feature off-road driving instead of tarmac-based races.
Also new for the series is an agreement that Xplosiv can use vehicles from the Ford-owned Land Rover brand, meaning players will be able to race vehicles such as the Discovery 3 and Freelander 2 (for those able to tell the difference between the two) as well as a range of Ford pickups, SUVs and fancy concept cars.
18 licensed cars will be available to drive around 24 tracks featuring desert, water and ice conditions. The cars will apparently feature 'real-time, on-the-go damage repair' - however we're not unconvinced this isn't just there to stop you smashing up the cars until they resemble clapped out shells dripping bits of crumpled metal - something car manufacturers always seem keen to avoid.
More promisingly, the game will have a whopping 12 race modes - including Slalom and Checkpoint as well as the less self explanatory Gold Rush and Expedition. Multi-player races will be playable online for up to six people.
Off Road is scheduled for release on March 21st at the budget price of £19.99 - which doesn't sound like a bad price for that much racing - even if it is does involve the somewhat prosaic output of Ford. There aren't currently any screenshots available of the PSP version - so the one above is from the PS2 one instead.
