Another Playstation Plus game given an outing over the festive period was "Roundabout" an amusing puzzle-ish taxi simulator that has excellent (and bizarre) Full Motion Video introductions to the missions.
Georgio Manos (Kate Welch) is an unconventional limousine driver, learning to drive only whilst spinning her car through 360 degrees. Having arrived in a new town, she sets her site on becoming the area's premier driver and picks up a cast of unusual regulars on her way to the top.
So gameplay-wise, imagine something like the original G.T.A games. A top down view of a small part of the town, with your car in the centre of the screen. You have to follow the arrows to pick up or drop off your respective passengers whilst manoeuvring around the obstacles in your way. It's more a test of your timing ability, than a strict puzzle game - although it does become a little more puzzle orientated as the game goes on, as you need to slow, speed up or change your rotation to make it though. The car can take four hits before it explodes and you have to return to the nearest checkpoint.
Apart from the missions, there are a number of businesses to buy, that can generate you money. There are replacement horns, money caches and specific jumps to find. There are upgrades for the car to find, or buy, and a number of cosmetic additions that you can spend your money on. It was, if I'm honest, fun for a while, but lacking in enough genuine gameplay variety to keep me interested. The game isn't particularly long. I got through all the missions in around three or four sessions (probably totalling around five hours) and picked up most of the collectables before deciding that I'd had enough. Even with that relatively small time spent with it, I felt I'd more than seen all it had to offer.
The video mission introductions, and the overall games story, are a lot of fun though. Georgio is a silent protagonist, but that doesn't stop her making friends, enemies and falling in love. The low budget nature of the videos makes them quite charming and there are some wild ideas in there.
I don't want to get too staunch in my criticism, as this was a "free" game on PS+ and it was entertaining for a while. Just don't expect to be playing it for very long.
