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The Namco arcade title Smashing Drive has made it home console with arcade action intact but little else. The title’s sub-par graphics and limited options don’t make it a must-have, but the mindless action is fun for short periods of time. In Smashing Drive players take the role of a taxi cab driver who races against a rival taxi to clear a specific course. The courses are filled with traffic that the taxi can smash into, but you’ll have to avoid all the traffic to beat the rival cab and clear the course in time. The game features two game modes – Arcade and Survival. Arcade is just like it sounds, with four stages and four levels within each stage. In Survival the game will end when the can takes too much damage. The Survival Mode is more difficult since you’ll have to take great care and not getting your cab beaten up by traffic.
The controls are simple. Accelerate with A, brake with B and honk your horn with the R trigger. Each course in Smashing Drive is a virtual taxi cab play land. The courses contain ramps, power-ups, and short cuts. Cab drivers who take the best shortcut and nab the best power-ups have the best chance to win the race. The power-ups include turning the taxi cab into a 4x4 to run over cars, speed boost, cutter blades to cut traffic or a rival cab, and a blaring horn to make other cars explode. All the upgrades work to speed you through the course and score a win. Ramps and shortcuts work to get you to the finish. It’s pretty fun launching off a ramp and cutting corners through a ice rink or museum to speed your way through. Some shortcuts are pretty lengthy, but the nice green arrow at the top always shows where your supposed to go. Players receive a satisfying smash in controller rumble form each time they run into a car or obstacle. The graphics are pretty disappointing. Every object is made out of low polygons and the textures are blurry. But the 60fps gets the job done to make each race a thrill. The music doesn’t help either. The 80’s rock and electronica jams are pretty horrid to hear and doesn’t keep the adrenaline pumping. To hear lyrics like “Loosen up your diapers” is just plain bad and the human ears should not be subjected to it. The two-player mode is cool for short bursts of race action. The mode can be played with split-screen horizontal or vertical and stays at 60fps. Smashing Drive is a straight arcade port with few extras. Pick up only if you need a quick racing fix or need to smash something.
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