Remember, kids: "It is very dangerous to actually run in this way, so please do not imitate it!"
Image credit: AMATA Games / TubezGames
"This game makes an expression that is impossible in reality," reads the blurb which pops up when you go to play DriveCrazy’s demo. "Because it is dangerous to drive like this in real life, never imitate." "Ah," I yell as I race a kei truck down the side of a building while missiles and lava lurk in my vicinity, "I see what you mean."
Prompting me to give TubezGames’ small lorry game a go was the fact it’s just emerged from early access, having been in the oven since July 2023. Now, though, it’s hit 1.0, and I’m seriously considering seeing what the rest…
Remember, kids: "It is very dangerous to actually run in this way, so please do not imitate it!"
Image credit: AMATA Games / TubezGames
"This game makes an expression that is impossible in reality," reads the blurb which pops up when you go to play DriveCrazy’s demo. "Because it is dangerous to drive like this in real life, never imitate." "Ah," I yell as I race a kei truck down the side of a building while missiles and lava lurk in my vicinity, "I see what you mean."
Prompting me to give TubezGames’ small lorry game a go was the fact it’s just emerged from early access, having been in the oven since July 2023. Now, though, it’s hit 1.0, and I’m seriously considering seeing what the rest of its now-complete story has to offer.
The demo begins in normal enough fashion. There’s a kei truck rally on, so you’ve got to blast your little lorry down a bunch of narrow lanes and trails in a fashion that’d make Colin McRae proud. You’re rewarded technique points for clean driving, but the game also doesn’t seem to mind too much if you bulldoze a few hedges or barriers without taking damage.
Then, the stage ends. As the camera fades, you see a mysterious saucer float across the sky. The next thing you know, you’re fleeing for your life through the streets of a city collapsing as aliens invade. No matter. Your truck has so much grip that it feels glued to the road, which helps in evading the missiles which menacingly float after you, the orbital strikes which attempt to get you in their sights, and the falling skyscrapers which lurch forwards across the streets.
Then, you turn a corner and the road’s full of lava. Pants. Time to wall-ride, the game says. While your truck can take a bit of convincing to hop onto the vertical axis if you’re not running at top speed, once you’re racing along the windows you can nimbly jump from one side of the street to the other, skipping any gaps in the façade. It’s a Fast and Furious-worthy stunt chase, but with a ride that wouldn’t look out of place delivering sushi or pizza through Tokyo’s backstreets.
In truth, I’m not sure if the level of stuntage can be taken high enough to sustain a whole game’s worth of the adrenaline rush which powers the two demo levels. Then again, the Steam page mentions a battle with a giant bear and the spoiler tag in the 1.0 release notes mention, er, a large fish. So, maybe I’m fussing about nothing.
If you fancy finding out for yourself, you can check out DriveCrazy on Steam. At only £6, it’s slightly cheaper now then it will be once its 20% launch discount expires on Christmas day.