Splash Cars

Genre: Isometric Driving Game / Arcade

Players: 1-4 Team Competitive (Local)

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Review:

Splash Cars is an Arcade-style Isometric Driving Game released in 2021 on PC and then in 2022 ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This game has players driving around a monochrome section of land with a vehicle spreading color, with the goal of colorizing as much of the area as possible before you run out of gas.

This game’s presentation uses simple, clean-looking 3D visuals that seem reminiscent of a diorama in a way that seems pretty appealing, backed by a repetitive soundtrack you’ll grow sick of before too long. So overall, a bit of a mixed bag.

When it comes to the gameplay, once you start a level, your car is constantly propelled forward, with players only able to steer their vehicle left and right. Your gas is constantly depleting, but can be refilled by running over gas can pickups littered around the level. Also around the level you’ll find coins and blueprints to buy new vehicles and vehicle paint jobs in the game’s in-game shop, as well as power-ups to give you temporary advantages within the levels.

This is already a pretty decent core concept, but it’s made more interesting through the actions of other computer-controlled vehicles in these levels, which ordinarily erase color, but can be transformed into color-spreading vehicles if you drive near one. You’ll also encounter police cars that try to ram into you and destroy your vehicle, though I didn’t find this a very compelling threat, as you have a pretty good amount of health so the danger here seems minimal.

There’s also a team-based competitive multiplayer mode that’s almost like an isometric take on the Splatoon series formula – the level starts out half-colored, with one player or team trying to spread color to the rest of the level, and the other player or team trying to sap color away from the other side, and again this is made more interesting because both sides can get the map’s computer-controlled vehicles spreading their colors (or lack thereof).

When it comes to complaints, I feel like the gameplay that constantly has you moving forward doesn’t quite fit into the game’s maps that often have tight, enclosed sections with obstacles that are difficult to maneuver around. I’m also frustrated by the lack of an indicator pointing you to where the computer-controlled vehicles are, something that can make a massive difference in getting a level painted in time or failing to do so. Also, I do think this game depends heavily on players having to backtrack to replay levels after unlocking more cars and power-ups later in the game.

However, overall Splash Cars is a fun Arcade-style Isometric Driving game that brings Splatoon-style gameplay to a different genre. This game is well worth getting for fans of Arcade-style Isometric Racing games, especially if you like to throw down with friends.

tl;dr – Splash Cars is an Arcade-style Isometric Driving game where players are trying to spread as much color as possible in a monochrome area before running out of gas. This is a simple but enjoyable game that plays a bit like the Splatoon series applied to a different genre, and while it has a few issues, this is overall a solid game well worth playing, especially if you’re looking to compete with friends locally.

Grade: B

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