The entire visual landscape of Scrapland is both unique and beautiful all at the same time. In many ways, you may think of Tron, but with more detail and creativity. The world is dynamic in size and full of eye candy. The splendor seems to have a few cracks in it once you realize how familiar and repetitive some environments become. What never gets old is the many odd and ever changing cast of characters that you meet within the game. Each is as richly detailed as the next, and the variety of supporting NPC’s and enemies keeps Scrapland from ever getting dull and monotonous. You also get numerous vehicles to maneuver, from space cars to ships, which all have the same uniqueness about them as the rest of the world of Scrapland. Overall, you will not have a hard time looking at the game since it is so creative and wonderfully designed.

Audio for the most part has the same touch of greatness and originality as the visual aspects. There is a great array of sound effects that create the atmosphere and compliment the great visuals. Scrapland features a nicely done score that fits the mood and location the game is based upon. What may hinder the overall experience is the weak voice acting on all parts. Whether the voice-overs were too over or under emotional, or just supplying too little dialog, the game’s voices feel as if they were thrown in at the end. This really hurts when trying to tie some of the game’s critical plotlines together. It is not a good feeling when you have to unravel the puzzle within the puzzle when dialog is concerned. Otherwise, the audio does a more than standard job supporting the game’s design.

Game play is the area that Scrapland shines, with only little scuffs here and there that keep the game from being very polished. The good comes from many points of view. Scrapland is extremely opened ended, supplying many large worlds to inhabit. You have many choices on how to complete missions, and moreover how to get to them. There are hundreds of ships to take for a spin, each having its own unique handling depending on weight, power, and aerodynamics. The A.I. is very intelligent and learns your tendencies on how you fight, maneuver, and plan throughout your journey. Where Scrapland fails just a bit, comes from the many lengthy and tedious back tracking and fetch quests thrown in the game. With such great potential and well thought out level designs, to have to throw in these elements not only kills the imagination, but pacing of the game as well. Granted, these quests are few, but the fact that in such an open-ended title you must do such quests gives the game a slight linear feel when asked to complete such missions. The rest of the game never feels so constricted, which is why I can proudly recommend this title. A few other notable game play elements are that you switch between 15 characters that you meet in the game. Each character acts differently from both D-Tritus and each other. You will have to acquire and change these characters often, as they may be your only means of entry into certain facilities. There is also the option to build your own space ship that you modify and soup up regularly. These elements add even more to the game’s longevity and freshness. If you can get by a few of the quest types, then you will still get something special from the game on a whole.

At the time of this review, the online rooms were vacant, as the game had not hit game shelves, so the online component could not be reviewed. Promised though, is up to 64 players online in head-to-head or team-based action. You have the goodies you would expect from a solid online title; Deathmatch, Flag Hunt, and team variations of these modes.

With all the big boys releasing their games, almost simultaneously, I might add Scrapland probably will not be on many gamer’s wish lists this holiday season. If you are looking for something original, and want to keep the little guys in business that generally care about developing something unique, then by all means pick up Scrapland. It is worth your time and money, as it offers gamers an experience never played before, even with the subtle similarities to GTA. In the end, this is no GTA, good or bad, this is Scrapland and in a league all by itself.