Worst.  Game.  Ever.

 

Well, maybe not that bad, but it's no spring chicken.  With Smashing Drive, Namco conjures up memories of San Francisco Rush on the N64, where barreling down city streets, and doing insane jumps with a car made of tin foil was all the rage. 

 

Smashing Drive was pretty fun in the arcades, because all an arcade game needs to do is entertain you for a couple of minutes while your quarters quickly whittle away.  When converting that arcade game into a home version, you have to add a few extra things to justify a $50 purchase.

 

They kind of... well... didn't.

 

Smashing Drive gives us ten stages of chaotic taxi cab driving in New York City.  You have to race from Point A to Point B before an opposing cabbie gets there first, or the time limit runs out.  On the way, you have to try to make it through a few secret shortcuts, and pick up a few powerups (most of these just help you mow down traffic without doing damage to your puny car).  I wouldn't compare it to Crazy Taxi, really, since you don't really pick up any passengers, and it has the tendency to suck a few balls.

 

You might say, "Hey ten stages, that's more than nine", but remember that each stage takes about two minutes to complete, giving the game a grand total of 20 minutes of play time.  Couple this with the muddy graphics and sunday driver feeling of speed, and the only replay value left is playing a basic vs. mode race with a friend.

 

Smashing Drive is a rental, at best, but only if nothing else is on the shelf.  Spare yourself the boredom.

 

-James Napier