Crash: Autodrive

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

Crash: Autodrive is a Visual Novel released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2021. Set in the near future when cars automated by A.I. are the norm, this story focuses on four strangers in such a car who find themselves in an unusual situation when that car gets involved in a fatal accident, and it doesn’t take long for them to realize that all four of them are connected to the victim and have a potential motive… and possibly even the A.I. had a reason to cause the accident.

It’s an interesting setup for a detective story, and to its credit this game does make for an interesting examination of technology through its Phoenix Wright-esque murder investigation. Unfortunately, both the dialogue and the actions of the characters feels false – guilty or innocent, I strain to think that four people would react to a death in this manner – casually chatting about yoga and game conventions, taking it upon themselves to raid the victim’s apartment to look for clues… while this is all somewhat entertaining, it’s hard to take this story seriously.

The audiovisual presentation isn’t especially great either, featuring simple cartoony 2D artwork with exaggerated expressions. One could argue the Phoenix Wright games do this too, but those games at least invest their characters with a wealth of personality and have endearing animations. Here, there’s just not much to talk about. These visuals are backed by a lighthearted soundtrack that doesn’t fit the tone of the story or the tone of whatever scene you’re playing at the time.

One other thing to address here – the controls. And how you feel about those controls depends largely on how you’re playing the game. If you’re playing in handheld mode using a touchscreen, this game controls great. If you’re trying to use a gamepad, however, this is a pretty poor conversion to console, with players not selecting menu items directly, but instead controlling a slow cursor.

In the end, despite all its faults, Crash: Autodrive still tells an interesting story that fans of the genre may find worth trying out, especially if they like a good murder mystery. But the unrealistic characters and dialogue, the unimpressive visuals and music, and the frustrating controls when not using a touchscreen make this a game that won’t please everyone, and those who enjoy it probably won’t find more than mild amusement.

tl;dr – Crash: Autodrive is a Visual Novel that has players solving a murder mystery involving four strangers riding in an A.I.-controlled car that has an accident killing someone with ties to all of them, including the A.I. While the story concept is great, the writing and characters feel pretty unnatural, the presentation isn’t great, and the gamepad controls are severely lacking. Fans of murder mysteries may still enjoy this, but suffice it to say, this game is no Phoenix Wright.

Grade: C

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