Ice Cream Wars

Genre: Arcade / Driving Game

Players: 1

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Review:

Ice Cream Wars is an Arcade-style Driving game released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2024. Loosely resembling games like Crazy Taxi, instead of picking up fares this game has you driving an ice cream spot to groups of hungry customers. Between these stops, you’ll be running down ice cream supply carts to refill your supplies, and avoiding hostile ice cream truck drivers working for a competing company, who try to ram you down as you speed to your next destination.

The presentation here is decent but unimpressive, with simple but colorful 3D visuals that mostly work well for the game, though I think it’s not the best design to have the color marking groups of customers the same as the color of enemy ice cream trucks. These visuals are backed by an upbeat soundtrack that works well enough for the game, but isn’t especially memorable.

The core gameplay concept here is excellent, combining Crazy Taxi-style driving from spot to spot with enemy evasion and even some light Roguelike elements. Unfortunately, those Roguelike elements are far too limited. It also doesn’t help that this game’s areas seem pretty repetitive and indistinct. However, the big problem here is that the driving mechanics are terrible. Your vehicle is slow to respond, doesn’t turn well, and just overall does not feel satisfying to drive. In a driving game, that’s a pretty major problem.

Still, while this game has some major problems, its core concept remains engaging, and the $4 price tag makes this a game that’s difficult to pass up. If you’re looking for a fun time-waster between bigger games, Ice Cream Wars may be worth a look.

tl;dr – Ice Cream Wars is an Arcade-style Driving game that has players rushing from spot to spot to serve paying customers while picking up supplies and avoiding enemies. The core concept here is great, but the driving itself is poor and the maps you drive in are repetitive. For only $4 this is enjoyable enough to be a decent time-waster, but it feels like it had potential to be something more.

Grade: C+

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