"This game needs NOS."

I've always fancied a good arcade racer, but it seems like as time passes, arcades are always weeding out “wholesome” racing games with anything that looks flashy and can haul in the money. In this case, the Cruisn' series really took off with Cruisn' World, which offered a rather shallow racing experience, coated with tons of cars and tracks. That was followed up by Cruisn' Exotica and now Fast and the Furious. Even though it's developed by Raw Thrills and not Midway, all of them were headed up by Eugene Jarvis, which explains why the games are so similar.

The Fast and the Furious borrows a ton of cues from the Cruisn' games. There's a bunch of cars, a few tracks, and a heaping dose of pure adrenaline. This time, there are nine tracks set around different locations in America, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and even the New England countryside (people say there's twelve courses, not nine, but I didn't count that many when I was playing!). There's about fifteen cars to choose from, and they're all actual licensed cars that have appeared in the movies in some way. There's the Nissan Skyline, the Toyota Supra, the Mitsubishi Lancer; heck, they've even got “American muscle" with some good old Dodge Chargers and Chevrolet Camaros! There is the option to change the color of the car, too.

F&F makes good use of an account with a PIN number and whatnot, ripped straight out of Cruisn' Exotica. Players can save their automobiles and purchase upgrades each time they play. There's engines, spoilers, neon underglow, and even some nitrous oxide to buy (yeah, the anti-ricers are LOVING this). Each part gives a mild boost to the car's performance. However, this seems like a gimmick to get people to keep putting money in the machine, plus profiles can't transfer over to any other cabinets.

So how is the gameplay? Basically, if you've played Cruisn' Exotica, you've experienced much of the game already. The game pits you against seven other racers and each race usually lasts about two and a half minutes. Checkpoints are scattered around the course, but to be quite honest, you're not going to run out of time at all. Come in first place to win a free race. Double-tap the pedal to do a wheelie, then hit a jump to do a mondo-crazy flip! Don't run into traffic whatever you do. Also, always hold down the gas and never let go of it.

Following that last paragraph, this game is really, really simple. Out of all the times I've played, I never had to brake or slow down. And what happens if you should run into a wall? Well, you lose a little speed and that's it. I mean, after all, the controls are pretty “floaty” so you may run into things trying to get a hang of it. Gee, it's like the old Cruisn' games, except for the fact that the developers did very little to actually make the series better other than slap on a bunch of cool things like nitrous oxide boosts, wheelies, and stunts. This is Eugene's fourth racing game, and by then, he should've added a little something to make the game more intuitive.

Instead of a more technical driving game, the game throws traffic at you. It's always been this way since the beginning of street racing, and it hasn't changed since. I'm guessing Eugene recognizes the basic law of "If a racing game is complicated, the timer has to be difficult to beat." I don't know why this would have to apply here though, since the player has a full two-and-a-half minute race to drive around while destroying public property in the process. Even if you are skilled at dodging incoming traffic, you'll have a crappy race now and then. In my experience, it looked like no matter how bad I raced or how many sedans or minivans I ran into, the AI would ease up and allow me to come close to beating them, but even if I do race perfectly, I still could not win. It's kind of like those light-stopping games; it looks easy to win, but it really isn't because the developers screwed up the AI, rendering skill semi-useless.

As for graphics, the framerate is pretty sweet and runs at a fluid pace throughout the game. To compensate, the texturing of the cars and environment looks pretty bland. In the year 2005, it's not going to wow any gamers any time soon. Also, the game makes good use of sprites instead of actual 3-D people models. At the beginning and the end of every race, sprites consisting of real-life crowds of "cool dudes" and the flag girl stand there in plain sight. Even though they are well-animated, they stand out a bit too much. Come on people, Sega and Namco manned up and used polygonal people back in '92, but this is just lazy.

As for sound, there's a whole soundtrack of techno-rock music that does fit the mood well, but I highly doubt you'll even remember it minutes after you're done playing. It's just not all that memorable, but still, it's music so some people may like it a lot. As for sound, there's tons of engine revving and a announcer who sounds like a woman in a swimsuit trying to seduce you by gasping every word she says. Yeah, so that's what the flag lady from Cruisn' USA has been up to. Still, the sound effects serve more as placeholders than anything else.

I'm not hating on the Cruisn' series or Fast and the Furious. There's always room for linear arcade racers, but considering this game has had plenty of time to revamp the series, all you're getting is presentation and little substance. This game also costs a lot too, since the cheapest I've ever found it was at 75 cents. At that cost, there are games that you'll probably enjoy more for that price or even less.

Presentation: 8/10 – Looks good, to say the least. Fits the F&F theme well.
Gameplay: 5/10 – Not a very challenging game that recycles old themes such as “throw tons of traffic at the guy” and “let the AI keep the race close.” I do like the profiles and car upgrades, but they would be better suited for an interchangeable card, like in Initial D.
Graphics: 6.5/10 – Other than the good framerate, the texturing isn't very good. Also, don't forget the sprite people.
Sound: 7/10 – Nothing here to please or disappoint.
Replay Value: 4/10 – The profile feature can give players a reason to keep playing, but the game does get old fast.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/07, Updated 01/09/08

Game Release: The Fast and the Furious (US, November 2004)