Fast & Cruis’n
I love a good arcade racing game, so when I heard that we were getting a console port of the 2022 arcade title Fast & Furious: The Arcade Game, it piqued my interest. I am a huge fan of Raw Thrills and their recently released Cruis’n Blast. Combine that with the wackiness, that is the Fast & Furious series, and we are bound to have a good time. While this game does retain most of the feel and mechanics of the aforementioned title, there just isn’t a lot of substance here. Still, it is a fun racer that runs out of gas far too soon.
So, what is this game? Well, it is a port of a 20+ year old arcade game. Titles like this were pretty common in the arcade era, and of course with the popularity of Fast and the Furious, it just made sense. That being said, the license also comes with some caveats. While this is essentially a Cruis’n game, it does have licensed cars and locales from the movies. These are cool but also limiting.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
There are only a total of eight cars in the game, with each one having a ‘Furious’ version. These upgraded versions are the same car with some improved stats and a minor cosmetic change. I am gonna be honest, the stats really don’t matter thanks to the brutal AI, more on that in a bit. There are six tracks in total, and these are the stars of the show. For anyone who has ever played a Cruis’n game, the tracks are the centerpiece. These things range from desert locales to neon-soaked streets and everything in between. Each track is also jam-packed with stuff going on in the background.
Tracks in games like these are built for wow factor. Giant helicopters crashing into trains while sharks jump out of the water trying to eat you. It is literally a theme park ride. They are also massive with shortcuts that open up in subsequent laps. There is just so much to these tracks. Sadly it will only take about an hour to see everything in every track, which does limit some of the game’s replayability. Still they are a ride worth taking.
The handling of the cars takes some getting used to if you didn’t grow up on this style. There are only three buttons to worry about, gas, brake, and nitro. There is a drift mechanic as well that is achieved by double tapping the gas going around corners. I will be honest; I never touched the brake. Why would I? This game is all about speed and maneuverability, and once I got accustomed to the handling I never looked back. You can also perform tricks by double tapping the gas in straight aways, going around corners, or jumps. This is fun and gives a slight boost. There are a couple pick-ups in the game including a lightning strike and extra boost, but Mario Kart this is not.
Sadly, there is no online multiplayer in this game which would have definitely helped. There is a local two-player splitscreen option, which works well, but sometimes the chaos becomes too much to track on a smaller screen.
The biggest elephant in the room with this game outside of the lack of content though is the AI. This game was built to eat quarters and it shows. The rubber-banding might be the worst I have ever seen in a game. Playing with strategy is pointless. No matter how perfect you race, the CPU will ALWAYS catch up to you. There is only one way to win at the game, and once I figured it out, it made everything else trivial. Simply do not use your boost until the very end of the race, then go wild. This is the ONLY way to win. This sucks as it removes any sort of strategy or skill and makes the game one dimensional.
Fast and Furious: Arcade Edition is fun for a little while but wears out its welcome far too soon. You can unlock everything there is to see in an hour, and the unfair AI makes replaying it not all that much fun. I loved the romp, but at $30 this is a hard one to recommend. It just lacks content, and the brutal AI kills any replayability. Combine that with no online mode and this title falls short of a must-have.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
