Xbox One Critic Reviews

The game heartily emphasizes family values, where the unifying factor is ultimately to love over good food. Those who enter the family from outside are as much uncles, aunts, and cousins as those who were born into it. Of course, the story is mushy, but these days when gritty games try their hardest to tear you into pieces, there’s a vacant lot for feel-good entertainment. In this context, it’s heartless to moan about some gameplay and design issues, like mostly uneventful driving parts or linear nature of family meetings where a failure is hardly an option. All these gripes are fully acceptable if you put your heart into the game. Road to Guangdong might not be the next must-buy hit but it has more humanity to share than most games out there put together.

A game of two halves, there’s just about enough in one half to make up for the frustrations of the other. Easily an afternoon’s enjoyment in there.

Road to Guangdong is an interesting experiment in the very niche road trip simulator category that's ultimately worth a look because of its bold form of storytelling and interesting, captivating characters. The fact that its flaws are so persistently visible throughout most of it means that it won't be a game for everyone, but for someone looking for a unique, imperfect experience, this might be just the game they're looking for. Still, in another world where different developmental choices were made, Road to Guangdong could have been the indie masterpiece it's so often striving to be.

Whilst Road to Guangdong does suffer from various gameplay issues and a laborious process of managing the upkeep of your car, its story is engaging and uplifting.

Family is a big deal in the East and it is portrayed very well in Road to Guangdong on the Xbox One. Sadly though, the family included here isn’t worth the drive to get there.

Too slight to be seriously considered a Ja-copy of Jalopy, Road to Guandong has some adorable visual-novel moments that focus on family. It’s just a shame, then, that the road trip sections to reach them are so lifeless.

Road to Guangdong can be commended for its unique concept and colourful imagery, but that is all it has. The mundane feel of the story is part of the appeal, as is the relaxing vibe, but there is no substance or discovery to be had, since there is no agency or wrong path. Driving is barely deeper than driving in one direction. Keeping the line under the red bar, and just selling whatever that can found is as engaging as picking out maggots from a heap of rice. The original OutRun is over 30 years old now, and yet manages to have more going on when driving.