Cruis’n Blast

Genre: Arcade Racing

Players: 1-4 Competitive Split-Screen (Local, Local Wireless)

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Review:

Cruis’n Blast is a family-friendly Arcade-style Racing game released in arcades in 2017 and brought to Nintendo Switch in 2021. Longtime Nintendo fans may have fond memories of the Cruis’n franchise from back in the Nintendo 64 era starting with the series’ first title, Cruis’n USA. However, the series has been in decline since the original trilogy of releases on the Nintendo 64, with Cruis’n Velocity on the Game Boy Advance and Cruis’n on the Wii both universally panned, and no other titles between those disasters and this game.

It is just as well, then, that Cruis’n Blast seeks to more or less recapture the spirit of the fast-paced, simple, accessible racers that players may remember from the series’ origins, rather than the mess the series has become. This acts as a fresh start in more ways than one too, with a new developer, Raw Thrills, whose specialty is arcade games.

Despite the age of the arcade version of Cruis’n Blast, or possibly because of it, this is a game that performs like a dream on the Nintendo Switch – a crisp 1080p resolution in docked mode and 720p in portable mode, with a mostly silky-smooth 60FPS framerate, although this does briefly drop down to 40-45FPS when using the turbo-esque “blast” ability that creates additional effects on-screen. This framerate drops down to 25-35FPS in 4-player split-screen mode. Not perfect, but overall I’d say that this game still looks great despite the occasional dips in an otherwise stellar framerate (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers!).

However, while Cruis’n Blast’s performance is overall superb, what really makes it absolutely pop onscreen is the visual flair this game brings to the table. While this game isn’t exactly pushing the bar on a technical level, in terms of artistic design, this is firing on all cylinders to create the absolute craziest, shiniest, explosion-filled extravaganza you’re likely to see just about anywhere. Ten cars onscreen at a time, tons of reflections everywhere (though not realistic reflections), lots of various effects… big, bold, bright colors that dazzle the eyes, and set piece after set piece after set piece to make every second of this game an absolute spectacle.

In one level, you’ll be racing along on top of a train one moment and dodging a runaway ferris wheel the next. On another level you’ll literally be darting through debris tossed at you by a tornado before leaping over a chasm created by an earthquake. In yet another level, you’ll jump off of a massive cliff face into the waiting arms of a giant, building-size angry yeti, only for him to smash the ice beneath the two of you revealing a lush cave underneath, where you need to dodge between two more yetis wrestling each other. Not a moment goes by when there isn’t a ton of brilliant color or wild activity going on on-screen, and I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot throughout this game as I played it.

This game is clearly built like a roller-coaster ride, and that certainly shows through its gameplay, both in good ways and bad. On the bright side, this may very well be the best racing game for young kids and casual players to play, because it is absurdly simple to play. The only buttons here are gas, brake, camera, power slide (that can be used for a Mario Kart-esque boost), and the aforementioned turbo-style “blast”. And if we’re being honest, players needn’t worry themselves too much over the camera button, and the brake button is virtually useless. Also, for those who prefer motion controls, those are also an option here, although personally I found it far preferable to stick to using the analog stick to steer.

However, this game isn’t just kid-friendly in its simplicity, but it is also designed to ensure that players are always rushing through the level without stopping – there’s no way to steer off-course, no way to accidentally drive the wrong way, and there are no barriers that can’t be broken through. You can hold down the gas button and touch nothing else and you will always reach the finish line.

What’s more, this game utilizes some of the most aggressive rubber-banding I have ever seen in a Racing game, and it does it in some really unusual ways. Firstly, rubber-banding here ensures extremely tight races – you will pretty much never finish a race without a computer-controlled car trailing a split-second behind you, no matter how well you perform. However, even more strangely, in multiplayer play, any players trailing too far behind the pack will automatically have their cars pushed forward to catch up. It doesn’t matter if the player in the rear has their hands off the controller, or even if they’re firmly pressing down on the useless brake button, they’ll be flying ahead to catch up with the others when they start to get too far behind.

This latter element is no doubt due to the fact that the setpiece stage elements I mentioned before are heavily-scripted, and timed to match the players’ progression through a level. Those yetis rampaging above the players will always just baaarely miss the player, and that one jump that has you flying through the ferris wheel will always have you somehow making it through one of the gaps as it rolls through. Players can even have a bit of fun by seeing the absurdity of this scripting by slowing down at one of these setpiece events and watching the event slow down to match them.

So much of this game is an illusion designed to make it a thrill ride, and as such, this game is not really concerned with skill. However, that’s not to say the player’s actions don’t matter at all. Players still need to rush ahead of the pack of opponents in every level and keep from being overtaken at the last moment by the car in second-place, making good use of the powerslide-boost ability, on-track boost jumps, and the limited number of “blast” charges they’re given for each race. Each track also has multiple hidden keys and cash pickups that players can exchange in the game menus for unlockable vehicles and vehicle upgrades, of which there are a considerable number, and some wacky ones, at that – players can unlock a fire truck, a helicopter, and even a triceratops, to name a few.

It bears mention that while this is a port of the arcade game, the Nintendo Switch version of the game adds wayyyy more content than was in the arcade version, with the arcade’s 5 levels expanded here into a full 30, although there is a little trickery at work here, as some of these levels recycle elements or play like a mix-and-match pairing of the elements of two prior levels.

Also, I’d be remiss if I went through this review without mentioning this game’s fantastic soundtrack, with the extremely catchy Title Theme, and wonderfully energetic songs like Fighter, Life is So Good, Madagascar, and High Octane. It would be hard for any soundtrack to match the crazy fireworks of the visuals this game has to offer, yet Cruis’n Blast’s music manages to be up to the task.

Having said that, this game’s sound… not so much. I found the engine noises oddly cutting out at times, and they sometimes didn’t seem to reflect the selected vehicle. It’s not horrible, but it’s surprisingly sub-par in a game where every other element of the presentation is on point.

In the end, Cruis’n Blast is a game that will absolutely not be for everyone. If you’re the sort of person who hates pro wrestling because it’s “fake”, or thinks Michael Bay movies are dumb because they’re just an excuse to have tons of explosions, there’s a good chance you’ll find Cruis’n Blast to be a similarly vapid experience – all flash, no substance. If your idea of a great racing game is a realistic simulation or a lightning-fast test of precision skill… you’ll probably conclude that there’s not really all that much for you in this game. However, if you can enjoy a game that’s pure spectacle, that’s trying to make every second you play it a high-speed thrill ride, then Cruis’n Blast is exactly what you want in a videogame.

tl;dr – Cruis’n Blast is a family-friendly Arcade-style Racing game that plays like a roller coaster ride, with every second of gameplay packed with thrills and eye-popping sights to see, but with extremely shallow gameplay. This is still a magnificently fun experience to play, and perhaps the perfect game for younger racing game fans, but not everyone will appreciate this game’s dedication to magnificent spectacle above all else.

Grade: B

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Driving/Racing Game – This was one of the closest competitions in the awards this year, with it being close to a three-way tie between Cruis’n Blast, Rush Rally Origins, and Hot Wheels Unleashed. Each of those games offers something unique, but also has its drawbacks. In the end though, I had to go with the game that brought me a feeling of childish glee the entire time I played it. Cruis’n Blast is a roller coaster ride of a racing game, both in that it is a non-stop thrill ride, and in that it is an experience largely on rails that creates those thrills via artificial means. However, even after seeing the scripted events and nasty rubber-banding under the hood of this game, I can’t deny that I still had fun every minute I was playing it.

Runner-Up: Best Game for Kids and Casual Players

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