Driving World: Italian Job

Genre: Driving / Racing Game

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Traffic Master Collection bundle, along with Multilevel Parking Driver and City Traffic Driver.)

Driving World: Italian Job, released on Nintendo Switch in 2021, is a game that has players driving various vehicles in a Simulation-style game where players must accomplish one of a few different types of goals within a small interconnected area as fast as you can without colliding with too many obstacles. I should note that this game has nothing to do with the 1969 film The Italian Job, nor its 2003 remake or the 2001 Rockstar Games PlayStation game based on the film, although this game is almost certainly trying to siphon off some of the popularity of… that now dated franchise.

(Note: This game shares a lot in common with the trio of games that were in Speedster’s Collection, including this game having many of the same assets. As such, I have copied my review for those games here, changing it based on what is different this time)

The presentation here is decent but unspectacular, with sufficient 3D visuals that get the job done, but are in no way impressive. What’s more, there’s plenty of nasty pop-in and repeated slowdown too, and just overall this game is not very visually-appealing.

As with other games using this template, this is an odd halfway point between a Driving Simulation and a Racing game. There aren’t any other racers here – your only real enemy is the ticking clock and a damage meter that depletes with each collision. However, Driving World: Italian Job is a rare example of a game that, despite using the “Driving/Driver” template that this developer has reused in countless games, is actually attempting something different with it.

This time around, the game takes place in a small area of interconnected streets in a town clearly intended to be Venice. Sometimes, you’ll be doing the same thing you do in pretty much every game in this format – going through one of various routes through this area, guided in how you’re expecting to navigate by the presence of translucent green gates. However, at other times you’ll be in an actual enclosed race circuit, or delivering packages to people scattered around the map. What’s more, this game offers some decent variety in unique vehicles you can drive, ranging from cars to scooters and motorcycles, and even bicycles.

This is the first time I’ve seen one of these games take to heart the issues regarding lack of variety, and the attempt is appreciated, although my enthusiasm here is still pretty limited, as the area you can explore is very small and still looks pretty samey.

You’ll generally find you’ll have more success in this game’s levels taking things slow and careful not to bump into anything. It will be rare when you’ll find it useful to drive at top speed. As a result, I’d argue that this game definitely leans in favor of the Driving Simulation side of things, even with occasional levels that are actually a race.

Unfortunately, this game’s controls are just terrible. Your vehicles’ turning radius is restrictive, the brakes take far too long to kick in, and just overall everything here is far too stiff and clunky to be enjoyable. What’s more, the lack of a mini-map and need to constantly check the map screen (with the timer still running) adds another layer of frustration. Players may, out of habit, try to look at the map on the pause screen, but not only is the map not shown there, but doing so results in a 3-second countdown whenever you unpause, which can get very irritating.

Another frustrating element here is that the foot traffic in these levels with pedestrians you need to avoid isn’t scripted, meaning that you could end up getting a worse time in a level simply because people walking in the middle of the street junked up a run.

Finally, this game’s $13 standard price is a joke, because this doesn’t even feel like a full game. It’s far too repetitive and simple, there’s no multiplayer, and I just cannot see most players enjoying this game for more than a few minutes before putting it down forever. Of course, we all know that $13 price tag is just a placeholder to make the game seem like a really good deal when it frequently goes on sale, but the bottom-of-the-barrel $2 price tag really seems like it should have been this game’s normal price, especially since this developer is re-using assets across multiple games.

In the end, while Driving World: Italian Job had some potential, it just has far too many problems to be worthwhile. The controls are bad, the graphics aren’t super impressive, and the price tag is far too high for what’s on offer. This is one of the better games to use this template, and one that actually tries to differentiate itself from the crowd, but that doesn’t mean that the flaws here aren’t still pretty severe. Maybe you’ll enjoy this game just enough to make it worthwhile if you get it on sale for $2, but mostly this is a just going to be a frustrating disappointment.

tl;dr – Driving World: Italian Job is a game that mixes elements of Driving Simulation and Racing games, with a focus mainly on the Driving Simulation side of things. Unfortunately, the cars here do not handle well, and it is far too lacking in options and contents for its price. This is one of the better takes on this formula, adding a fair amount of variety in different mission types and vehicles, but it’s still terribly lacking.

Grade: C-

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