Review – Cruis’n Blast

Arcade games were still big business in the mid 90s, performing strong and dropping some of the best arcade classics we still play today. In this time period the Cruis’n franchise was born with the ever-popular racing title Cruis’n USA.  Due to its success, Cruis’n USA and its sequels Cruis’n World and Cruis’n Exotica made their way onto the Nintendo 64, but as technology grew, arcades began to fade away and with them the Cruis’n franchise.

Enter 2017, arcade development expert Raw Thrills (Big Buck Hunter series, Jurassic Park Arcade, Halo: Fireteam Raven etc) lead by legendary game designer Eugene Jarvis returned the beloved franchise to the arcade scene with Cruis’n Blast, and just like the 90s, fans yearned for the game to be ported to consoles, with Nintendo once again making their latest console the home for Cruis’n Blast.

Players of this arcade racer need to be aware that while the gameplay is extremely fast, intense and most importantly a fun time, it is not a title that requires hours of the player’s time and all the games’ Tour modes can be played through in under an hour on the easiest difficulty. In saying that, Cruis’n Blast can be a very tough arcade game and while the easy difficulty is a push over, normal and the two harder difficulties will challenge and beat some of the best players. The replayability comes with its strong difficulty options, collecting items and levelling up and modding vehicles, which will keep arcade racing enthusiasts and even the casual gamers coming back for more.

Each race consists of 10 competitors with each trying to be the first to reach the finish line. Players will need to drift, use nitro, ram opponents, hit boost pads and perform stunts to win races and more importantly level up and mod vehicles to even attempt the hardest difficulties. Each race players will have to manage their 3 nitro boosts and decide the best time for them to be used. They can be used early to try to catch the leaders faster but risk having nothing left for the end, used late to push for that finish line or my preference of using them at certain intervals after I had learnt the layout of each track.

During races players can also double tap the accelerator for a smaller temporary boost that has the vehicle lift up onto its back wheels and leave a trail blaze behind, which is very reminiscent of the old games. Drifting is a must, as successfully power sliding around bends gifts the player’s vehicle a boost out of corners. The racing is fast with most races lasting about a minute and a half, grabbing the player and giving off that one more run vibe making players want to beat the best times or win that gold medal.

There game offers players 23 vehicles, including licensed supercars, but with less than half of these unlocked at the beginning. Unlocking the rest of these can be done by the player playing Cruis’n Blast and leveling up or collecting car key pick-ups (3 to find on each track). At first the player will unlock the series’ traditional vehicles like the cop car and fire engine, but from there the vehicles start to get a lot more diverse with a motorbike, formula one car, Apache helicopter, UFO, dinosaur, shark and even a unicorn that can all be used to race. Each vehicle can also be customised and upgraded, with all having different stats such as speed, acceleration, off road performance and weight. While the weight of each vehicle changes the handling, each vehicle is very responsive and Raw Thrills have really nailed the precise controls needed for a high-speed arcade racer.

To customise and upgrade vehicles players will need to earn XP by racing, performing stunts, drifting, taking down other racers and picking up cash on the track. Cash is also earnt via podium finishes and needed to purchase unlocked mods, as each vehicle can be levelled up 5 times with each level giving the player an option to mod their favourite vehicles via colour changes and body kits, but it is the level 5 engine improvement that adds some extra needed speed for the high difficulties.

The Cruis’n Blast Tour mode is the main meat on the bones in the way of a campaign mode. Each tour consists of 4 races and has a different gimmick. The 6 tours are:

• Night Tour – Races are held at night.
• Escape Tour – The police are hot on the heels of racers, ramming them in hope of taking them down.
• Storm Tour – Each race has a certain type of storm or natural disaster to deal with, such as a Tornado or a giant Yeti.
• Chopper Tour – Like the Escape Tour but the racers have helicopters flying over the top.
• Dino Tour – Dinosaurs run across tracks and litter each race.
• UFO Tour – Similar to the chopper Tour.

Over these 6 Tours, Cruis’n Blast has 24 different tracks while the game boasts 29 tracks once adding in the full 5 arcade tracks playable in arcade mode. Although it quickly become apparent that each track is either a section or slightly different route from the 5 arcade tracks of Death Valley, Madagascar, London, Rio de Janerio and Singapore. Even the Tours do not mix up the racing that much and it is only the Escape Tour that has interactive AI in the form of the police. The Storms, Choppers, UFO and even Dino Tours all feels too cosmetic, do not change how the player needs to approach a race, with some races being corner for corner the same as others with the only difference being the track decals.

The 5 main tracks these tours are based on include immense jumps, tight sections to drift around, abundant boost pads and several routes and short cuts, it is just disappointing that the large majority of tracks are recycled. Even a couple of new tracks would have added more variety for the 6 Tours on offer. For some players, it sadly won’t be long until track fatigue sets in.

The background of this game offers a lot in the form of hectic events outside of each track including the runaway London Eye, Yeti fights, Tornado’s blowing trucks around and more, but sadly, Cruis’n Blast is not a good-looking game. Raw Thrills have not put the same level of effort into the games looks like that of its arcade counterpart, though it is now a near 5-year-old game. While I don’t expect the Nintendo Switch to rival the arcade, it is easy to expect improvements here. While the vehicles look ok, some of the buildings and landscape looks blocky and a generation or two behind; more polish is needed especially in docked mode.  In saying this, there was no slowdown in races and the game runs smooth enough, even in local multiplayer and handheld mode. While the graphics may need more, the audio offers a decent experience as the music tracks are decent, and I loved the ability to be able to change tracks on the fly. Beefy sounds of engines, vehicles colliding and boosting fill the air bringing players the audio aspects of an arcade experience.

Cruis’n Blast offers both online and local multiplayer. Sadly, I could not find anyone online and that is understandable being review code for a smaller title. However, I did spend a chunk of time in local multiplayer with up to four players, and it was a very good time. There are four modes that include the Tours, Arcade, Single Race or a First to 3 Wins mode. On the easy difficulty my six-year-old and non-gaming wife were able to have success, beating the AI and pushing the more experienced arcade racer in myself to the end. While it does have rubber banding which keeps the leading racers in reach, it brought a lot of laughs to a household that is in its 12^th week of lockdown. We will be getting more hours out of this.

While there are options to use a motion tilt control, it was not for me, but it is a nice little option just like the option for the arcade ported auto acceleration, great for the younger crowd. Oddly there are no options to change up the control layout, with A being used for acceleration and triggers for drift and boost making it different to a lot of racers out there.

Pottsy for One More Game

7 – Good – This is an all-round solid game that delivers some features really well. It’s a game that most gamers will likely enjoy. If you’re not a fan of the game or genre then you may want to wait for a deal before picking it up.

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Cruis’n Blast was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch.

The publisher kindly provided code for this game. All thoughts on this game are ours and ours alone.