Gravel

A new, open-world racer... and the spiritual successor to Screamer?

- Justin Towell

From sunny Pacific islands to the forests of Alaska, Gravel offers exuberant open-world racing. Milestone has moved to Unreal Engine 4, and the difference is immediately visible. But while Gravel clearly utilizes the capabilities of the new tech, it has its roots firmly in Milestone’s past—namely the classic ’90s racer Screamer.

Irvin Zonca, head of game design at Milestone, explains: “Our head of programming created Screamer. So in my office there is the original design of the Screamer games. I took it off the shelf and put it on the table and it stayed there all the time, giving me inspiration. I was thinking of me as a 15-year-old guy playing Screamer during the ’90s, and I thought that a game like that is missing today. And also track design like that, with good panoramas, views, environments... colors also, not just grey tracks, but white sand, green palms, and the sunset on the shore.”