Smashing Drive (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It does appear that in the entertainment industry there is less and less original thought, as every year seems to spawn more sequels that the previous. The console game industry is very similar in that any game genre that hasn't been fully exploited is quickly fast tracked with a multitude of similar products. Lemmings had its impersonators, Tetris sports an incredible number of clones and a few games have paid homage to Crazy Taxi with Smashing Drive the latest to have clearly lifted its 'influence' from it. Here we have the handheld version, which is in glorious 3D thanks to Raylight's Blue Rose technology. Outside of a few notable exceptions though 3D is not a GBA strong point but do those good folks at ZOO Digital know something we don't?

Gameplay

Smashing Drive is all about getting from 'A' to 'B' around a futuristic New York City at several different times of the day. Clearly the name alone indicates that this is a journey by any means necessary rather that precision driving. Most people will initially head for the Arcade Mode which takes place over 3 shifts through areas such as Central Park and Times Square although you'll be required to complete one shift before another is opened up to you. Completing these isn't always as simple as it first appears to be, as your opponent has a faster car. To compensate you'll need to pick up and use the various bonus items that are scattered about the courses with the 'Tubo' probably the best bet for success. In addition you'll have to figure out the quickest route. While the main route is marked out there are a series of secret passages that can cut off the odd corner or more congested areas. Gain the allotted amount of points and you'll be treated to a bonus level, which disappointingly is more of the same. Also available are the self-explanatory Survival Mode and the rather enjoyable Head-to-Head although for this you do require two copies of the game.

Controls

Couldn't be simpler really with 'A' and 'B' controlling most of the action and the shoulder buttons activating the various 'pick-ups'. As for the question 'how good is it?' To be honest things move past so fast it's hard to judge the collision detection but on the plus side your vehicle does tend to go in the direction you want it to.

Graphics

Obviously a full 3D engine on the GBA is ambitious and like most similar titles before it Smashing Drive succeeds and disappoints in equal measures. The fact that the original had pretty bland renderings helps this GBA version no end. It is actually a lot more pleasing on the tiny screen and manages to avoid many of the criticisms that the bigger console versions were subject to. On the minus side there are too many occurrences of poor frame rate counts, when a bit too much is happening on screen, making your vehicle a difficult to control. It's pretty impressive if a little over ambitious but we'd never criticise a developer for trying to push the available hardware and here, they do.

Sound

Smashing Drive?s audio is very similar to the visuals in that there's so much going on that the whole thing becomes a little too complicated for it's own good. First up are the various sound effects including your general collisions, police sirens and assorted weapons. Added to this is the narrator, sampled directly from the arcade source, who makes various announcements throughout the levels. To top this off there's the soundtrack, which actually wouldn?t be too bad at all if only it wasn't competing with the two other audio elements. Thankfully you can do some adjusting via the options menu which we highly recommend you do before attempting to even play a level.

Final comments

Mission based driving games are wide and varied on the GBA platform and while Smashing Dive is reasonable fun, if only for a couple of minutes, it's not without its problems. The first of these has to be the rather obvious slow down when there's a little too much going on, but the game?s length is also a concern. Even an average gamer can complete the main section in an hour or so and I won?t even mention the hideous password system. Obviously there are multiplayer and survival modes but these are simply more of the same and add little value to the overall package. Unfortunately the handheld version of Crazy Taxi, where this game draws heavily from, suffers from similar problems making it difficult to recommend. Better are Stuntman and even Driver 2 but if the screenshots of the forthcoming Driv3r are anything to go by there could be a new heir to the mission based driving throne.

Pro: The Sonic Horn
Con: Occasional Sluggish Framerate
Final score: 4.9

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