8 To Glory Review

"Ride it Hard"

Campaign

8 To Glory is the ultimate bull riding experience as you aim to conquer a variety of difficult creatures that just want to buck you off. It's the official game of the PBR, whatever that is. It has licensing so if you follow this very niche sporting event that should be neat to see in action. The game is split into a number of modes which provides adequate gameplay time.

There's the campaign where you work through a series of events, but oddly it's set to be different for every character. The areas you visit and the bulls you battle don't change, so it's weird they would have that aspect. You basically battle sets of bulls and then continue to do the same thing again. There's an exhibition area to just face off bulls and a local multiplayer battle area for two. That's about it, aside from a card based system in the background. These cards allow you to level the riders, equip new gear and adjust things for the next ride.

Gameplay

The visuals are fine, they capture the essence of the event yet everything is the same. You do the same setup for every single bull and it changes little. The environment is also essentially the exact same as you progress, it could have used further variety. The mini game battle against the bull makes sense, and I'm not sure how they could do it better.

It still feels insanely repetitive as you do the same thing over and over. It starts off with a skill testing precision button tap. Then you ride trying to tap the ring, once that goes on for a bit button tapping starts. Then it's like a second more of ring tapping before finishing. You might get bucked off, but with some practice you'll get a simple rhythm going.

The Conclusion

8 to Glory is fine simulation of bull riding and it hits a very particular niche. It has some alright gameplay, but damn does it get repetitive quickly. There's a lot to play if you work through the campaign and an option for local multiplayer. The card system makes sense I suppose, but doesn't feel like its necessary at all. There's some content to experience, but I do wish it had more complexity or variation to it. The visuals are fine, nothing too amazing yet realistic enough. The setup for the challenges are fine, and they make sense for bull riding.

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8 To Glory Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by ID@Xbox

Rating Overall: 6.4