Crayola Scoot impressions (PS4)

Launching on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC on November 2nd, Crayola Scoot wears its inspirations on its sleeve and promises multiplayer fun for the whole family.

This isn’t the first time we see the Crayola name attached to videogames, but it’s the first time on Playstation and Xbox – which is great, because both platforms are severely lacking in games that are suitable for children. It’s always been Nintendo’s domain, so to see Outright Games break that tradition is certainly exciting.

A mix between Tony Hawk, Jet Set Radio and Splatoon, Crayola Scoot is every bit as colorful as you’d expect with the Crayola name attached. You control a kid on a trick scooter on one of the game’s 12 scoot parks, pulling off tricks and literally painting the town red (if that’s your color of choice) while you do it.

The controls are similar to the old Tony Hawk games, though somewhat simplified to keep things accessible for this family-friendly game. In addition to tricks, you can also use the power of color to gain speed boosts (like in Trailblazers) and you can also trigger traps for other players to hit. You can engage others in multiplayer, but can also play against AI opponents – the “Scoot Legends”.

If you feel like mixing things up, then Crayola Scoot has several game modes available. They can roughly be divided into modes that emphasize tricks and combos (which keep going as long as you have color ink left to spray) and modes that emphasized color play. So that, it seems that older players (the ones who played Tony Hawk 2) tend to prefer tricks, while kids love the color-oriented gameplay modes.

There’s no reason to choose though, because Crayola Scoot supports four-way multiplayer on a single screen. With gameplay that’s accessible and multiple ways to play, that makes this a title well worth checking out for families looking to play together. It doesn’t do Splatoon better than Splatoon, doesn’t do Tony Hawk better than Tony Hawk, but it’s solid fun for those playing with younger gamers in the room – especially on Xbox and PS4, where the competition is thinly spread.