In very rare moments, failure can be fun. Screamride managed to make one of the most penalizing moments in a game not a burden, but a chance for awesome destruction. So instead of trying to complete the difficult time bonus challenges in Screamrider mode, I looked for opportune moments where I could derail my exploding car and crash into buildings.

Screamride takes place in futuristic roller coaster testing facility, so there are tons of cool tools for players to construct, test, and destroy coasters in the sandbox mode and in campaign. The campaign features three jobs — Screamrider, Demolition Expert, and Engineer — so there’s a nice mix of simulation, puzzles, and action.

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Screamrider is all about making it from the beginning to the end of the roller coaster as fast and as skillfully as possible. You’ll dodge obstacles, hit a command on special rails to gain speed boosts, and tilt your car at insane angles for bonus points. When I wasn't purposefully launching my car into the environment, I was trying my best to master the pattern of tracks.

When I did inevitably knock my car off the rails, loading up the most recent checkpoint or restarting the level was thankfully quick. Even in the short time I had to play, I found myself obsessed with perfecting my runs, bringing down my time, and completing bonus challenges.

The Demolition Expert job is entirely about destruction. While there is a roller coaster car in this mode, I threw a majority of my testers in amusement ride cabins. My favorite of the bunch was the fragmentation cabin, which can split into three parts for even more tactical destruction. Demolition Expert seemed rather simple at first, but as I played later levels, the buildings had stronger foundations and the bonus challenges became increasingly more difficult. I couldn't just throw my cabins and expect destruction. I had to play with strategy and develop a little bit of skill. It’s like two parts Crash mode from Burnout and one part Angry Birds.

When multiple buildings started to crumble or sometimes when I restarted the level in both Demolition Expert and Screamrider, unfortunately, the frame rate would drop. The lagged destruction sometimes ruined the moment. Another strange thing I noticed was the absurd amount of twins among the ride testers. It was a little awkward when two of the testers had the same model doing the same animation, but that doesn't matter much once I was flinging them into a tower. Fortunately, these are issues that could potentially be rectified by the time the game’s March 3 release rolls around (also, FYI: it’ll be $40 on Xbox One and $30 on Xbox 360, where it’ll be missing the user-generated content sharing features).

Jumping into the Engineer job was a nice change of pace. The focus of Engineer, as you could probably guess, is building roller coaster tracks. Building is limited by objectives, but, like the other modes, the bonus challenges really pushed me to do my best. There are a lot of tools and track pieces, but it wasn't too difficult to figure out the controls. Unlike the sandbox mode, there are some strict restrictions when constructing tracks in Engineer mode. Instead of feeling like a limitation, the restrictions instead helped me better learn the building systems of Screamride. For instance, the first few levels I played only had me building a small section of the track, so I was limited on the distance of rails and the available rails.

Once I let the testers take it for a spin, I received a great amount of feedback. Tracks are rated in screams, nausea, and intensity. Points are also awarded based on the types of track pieces used, drops, and more. Additionally, Screamride points out issues with your track, such as showing exactly where riders fell out of the coaster car. I was able to use this information to alter my track so I could score more points and clear bonus challenges.

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I didn't have much time with the Sandbox mode, but I still managed to complete one small coaster of doom. After throwing some crazy pieces together, I was able to quickly build my track with the autocomplete tool. The tool wasn't able to complete my roller coaster the first time I tried it, but after adding two short pieces and trying again, it worked. There are also pre-built roller coasters and environment pieces, so I was able to make a cool little attraction in a short amount of time.

Screamride gave me control of some of the most fast paced, chaotic destruction I've experienced. Pass the Dramamine!