With super easy pick up and play controls and very user friendly non-punishing arcade style, Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad is overall, an enjoyable experience. The tracks are well constructed with nice graphical quality leaving little room for confusion as to where to go. It might seem like an odd statement but if you’ve ever played a racing game with poor course design and muddy visuals, you know what I’m talking about.

Five vehicle classes are available to the would be dirt track champ. Each handles a little differently but mostly they just escalate in speed as you move from Sprotsman Buggies to Prolite Trucks, Pro Buggies, Rally Cars, and finally to Trophy Trucks. Let’s not forget to discus the vehicle customization. Three “setups” are on offer to the player dealing with the general performance of your chosen vehicle. These setups can further be augmented by spending XP earned during races to upgrade your top speed, acceleration, handling, and braking. The upgrade/customization feature, while a great addition, are pretty non-specific. Non-specific in this instance is perfectly alright; not like we’re talking about Jeremy McGrath’s Forza Motorsport.

Having an arcade style and those easy to use controls unfortunately means that there isn’t a whole lot of depth to Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad. There are a couple of “moves” you can pull off. Power sliding is important while the clutch boost is still a mystery to me. Since there is no tutorial you may not know these actions can be performed for the first few races, but by the end of the game you’ll be begging Jeremy to stop telling you to use them. That’s right Jeremy McGrath himself is on hand to offer tips before and after races and during load screens. Not just text tips either, oh no, those can be ignored. Jeremy must be heard.

The single most irritating thing about Offroad is Mr. McGrath’s insistence that you use the clutch boost while never once explaining how. Not to mention that with all this talking not one time does McGrath treat us to a rendition of 1997 hit song “Fly”. The complaints against Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad are minor. The only real issue with the game isn’t evenĀ in the game. The issue with Offroad is a little thing called Trials Evolution and whether or not it can draw that audience.

The final word on this belongs to my nephew and assistant reviewer. The only quote I could get from him perfectly sums up both halves of this review.

It’s pretty fun. The guy was annoying.

– Jesse Orr