Game #928: Smashing Drive

  Not a Smash Bros. spinoff

 I first heard about Smashing Drive from a vid by Stop Skeletons from Fighting that covered the impressive GBA port, and for whatever reason, I was left with a positive impression of the game. Years(Maybe a year?) later I found it up for sale on my local Ebay analogue and I purchased it. While I waited for the game to arrive, I looked up some reviews and.... the game definitely didn't have a positive reception. I was expecting the worst.

 But joke's on everyone else, because I love Arcade games, and this is a prime and proper Arcade racer. While some people like to compare Crazy Taxi to this game, they are nothing alike. Smashing Drive is a pseudo one-on-one racer. Pseudo, because you are racing against another Taxi and against time, because you must reach the checkpoints in time if you don't want to lose because you ran out of time. Hilariously enough, the game lets you continue as long as you make it to the finish line, even if the other Taxi won.... however, you won't unlock the next tracks if you lose, so if the other Taxi gets too far ahead, just push the breaks and wait for time to run out.

 The game can be tough until you know what you're doing. If you just drive avoiding traffic and obstacles, the AI enemy will beat you and you'll run out of time. You have to be on the lookout for shortcuts, most of them are highlighted with green arrows, the rest you'll get hints, like a big arrow on top telling you to turn to the right even though there's a building there, since you'll probably break through its door. Lemme tell you, these hidden shortcuts are the best because they go insane, you might even drive down an elevator shaft, it's ridiculous and exciting and so much fun. These shortcuts also lead you to power ups, like Turbos, 4X4 wheels or a battering ram to destroy incoming traffic that will make it even easier to push ahead.

 It's a very simple game. Accelerator, Break and Horn are your only buttons, and you get four different shifts, AKA, four collections of three tracks. Actually, I can't remember if the last shift was three races long or just one race long, but it's the most fun in the game since you have to make it to the Liberty Statue. Regardless, you can probably clear the game in under an hour. It's short and sweet. It's also got a multiplayer mode I couldn't care to try as well as a Survival mode.

 I was expecting the worst, but I had a blast with Smashing Drive. It's simple, but fun and straight to the point, there's a lot of flash and little substance, but a great way to waste some time.

7.0