''Roundabout'' is an

open world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...

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racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

video game developed and published by American indie studio No Goblin LLC. It was released for

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Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

on September 18, 2014, for

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on February 20, 2015, and for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

on May 26, 2015. A

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port was released on June 26, 2018, as a

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title with the PlayStation 4 version. The game involves a constantly-rotating

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

which the player has to drive around an open world while completing miscellaneous objectives such as picking up and dropping people off or finding collectible items. The gameplay has been described as inspired by ''

Kuru Kuru Kururin is a puzzle video game developed by Eighting and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on June 22 as a launch title. It was not released in North America unt ...

'' (where the player also controls a constantly-rotating vehicle), and ''

Crazy Taxi ''Crazy Taxi'' is a series of racing games developed by SEGA Hitmaker, Hitmaker and published by Sega. It was first available as an arcade video game in 1999, then released for the Dreamcast console in 2000. It is the third best-selling Dreamc ...

'' (where the goal of the game is to drive

Non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

s from one location to another).

Gameplay

The player drives a constantly revolving limousine, and must deliver passengers (introduced through

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cutscenes) to their intended destinations while avoiding obstacles.

Plot

In 1977, Georgio Manos becomes the world's first revolving limousine driver, taxiing the citizens of the city of Roundabout to various destinations. A frequent passenger named Elizabeth earns Georgio's deep admiration, and a romance begins to develop between the two. Georgio also develops a rivalry with Ronaldo, another limousine driver who steals Georgio's technique and overtakes them as the #1 revolving limousine driver in the city. Desperate to defeat Ronaldo, Georgio acquires some candy dots with the help of Mickey the mechanic, which causes Georgio to hallucinate and see Jeffrey the Skeleton. Guided by Jeffrey in a candy-dot-fueled frenzy, Georgio goes on a murderous rampage through the city. Spurred on by Elizabeth, Georgio then challenges Ronaldo to a race, during which they run Ronaldo off the road, destroying his car and killing him. Six months later, Georgio has retreated to the northern mountains out of shame, as destroying someone else's car is akin to treason in Roundabout. Having lost Elizabeth and running low on candy dots, Jeffrey urges Georgio to get their act back together and win back Elizabeth's heart. At the same time, Georgio is hounded by Ge-Op (Georgio Operations), a police squad tasked with hunting them down. In the end, Georgio and Elizabeth are reunited, and Elizabeth explains that she is tired of Georgio's constant spinning, pleading with Georgio to drive straight for even a little while. After Georgio awkwardly attempts to drive straight, Elizabeth decides that she should not force Georgio to be someone they are not, and the two drive off into the sunset together.

Reception

The game's PC received favorable reviews, while the

version received mixed reviews upon release. Dave Tach of ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' praised the game stating "Combining elements from driving, puzzle and FMV games without becoming a product of one genre" and saying that the developers made "a unique hybrid." Phil Kennedy of ''

Push Square Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...

'' criticized the game's lack of content saying "Failure of missions is impossible with death just meaning a respawn a short distance away." As a result he said he "breezed through the game relatively quickly, with each mission taking around five minutes and the story about three hours in total." He didn't feel "particularly inclined to revisit any of the stages a second time in an attempt to better our scores." '' IGN Spain'' called it "a disappointing game that was aiming to become the next ''

'' but fails on achieving it. Short, ugly and not even funny"

References

External links

*{{official website, http://roundaboutgame.com 2014 video games Indie games Full motion video based games Linux games Open-world video games MacOS games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Vita games Racing video games Single-player video games Video games about taxis Video games developed in the United States Video games set in 1977 Xbox One games Video games featuring female protagonists LGBTQ-related video games