Smashing Drive

"Smash it!"

Nintendo lost a lot of support from Namco during the Nintendo 64's life cycle, but with the onset of the Gamecube, Namco was ready to give us something more than Pac-Man. However, their Gamecube debut, Smashing Drive, is not something I would call a "great start."

Graphics:
Blocky, plain, and ugly. Expect lots of glitches like cars going through cars, too. At least the framerate holds up. If you're obsessed with graphics, though, Smashing Drive will be very disappointing. Enough said here.

Sound:
Most of the sound effects are mundane, but excusable, except for a particularly ear-shattering sonic-horn power-up (lots of hyphens there). If only there were good music to drown these out. The game has a whopping three songs, each a 45-second lyrical loop which is extremely obnoxious. In fact, the songs are so bad, they're almost good. These blasted songs keep getting stuck in my head. Darn you, Smashing Drive!

Gameplay:
The premise of the game is based around taxi-driving. You play a taxi-driver trying to get a customer to some location before your competitor does. It sounds a little like Crazy Taxi, but plays much more like an actual arcade racing game. With that said, your path is linear, not an open-ended city block, and is filled with a lot of obstacles and traffic. However, these somewhat narrow courses have many branching paths and shortcuts, some of which are very wacky and off-the-wall (literally). What also makes Smashing Drive fun (even if minimally) is the fact that you can... well... smash stuff. Other cars. Mail boxes. Windows. Pedestrians. All this is done with great feeling and becomes a crucial part of the game. Power-ups can be picked up along the way to help you mow your way through traffic. All these are virtually the same, however, and aren't that exciting. The game is built around two modes, nearly identical to each other: Arcade and Survival. In these, you race in three different skill levels, each with three different courses. Races take place against a clock, as well as an opponent, so you are forced to beat this under a lot of pressure.

Controls:
Gas, brake, horn. These controls are totally customizable, too. I like that. The brake helps to skid around corners, which is good. Another nice touch is the horn, which can be used to get other cars to move out of your way. Your vehicle moves well enough; not too stiff, nor too responsive. Very rarely will you get flipped around, but when this happens, the game will put you back in line after a few seconds.

Frustration:
The game is kind of hard at first, and if you aren't that good at convoluted racing games, Smashing Drive will lead to smashing other things. Personally, I wasn't too bothered by the game. The timer, however, can be irritating, since there will be many instances where you were only a few feet away from the checkpoint or goal before time ran out. I see no reason why the timer needs to be there, either, since you are already racing another opponent. Arcade games use timers to keep kids from playing hours off one quarter, but when I buy a home console game, I expect to play as long as I want. At least you have unlimited continues in the single-player mode, compensating for the upped difficulty.

Lasting Appeal:
Would you believe me if I said the game can be beat in less than an hour? Well, for less experienced players, make that two hours. Still, that's not very much, and doesn't even justify a three-day rental. Luckily, there's a two-player mode. This can be enjoyable, but because of the way the game is set up, you won't find too much to get excited about. The main problem is in the timer. It leaves no room to have fun, and if your time runs out, you can't just try again like in one-player. You have to restart the entire circuit. Which brings up another gripe: you can't play any one level; you have to play a set of levels. These things really deter from any multiplayer fun. A lack of levels in the first place doesn't help, either.

Overall:
Wow. What a lame game. While I thought the basic idea was cool -- that of racing through this jumbled city and smashing things -- the game is way too short and doesn't let you have enough fun with it. It's a game that takes a few tries before you start to like it, but once you start to like it, you start to get sick of it. If someone were to give it to me, I would play it and love it. But I would never buy it. I'm a little bummed that I paid $5 to rent it, too. A few quarters is more appropriate.

Points:
+ Breaking stuff rules!
+ Many zany shortcuts
+ Great feel
-- Way too short
-- Stupid time limits
-- An overall ugly game

Score: 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/01/04, Updated 12/13/04