Dirty Drivin' Review

Here's my review video of Specual Interactive and Raw Thrills Dirty Drivin'. If you're here on the page then you proved me wrong, but from checking the stats it's obvious that more people watch the videos then read what I post. I was planning on writing it out like I did with Terminator Salvation and H2Overdrive, but I thought I'd loop the video with my voice over on it. If you'd like more in depth thoughts, hit the jump and check out more of what I thought of the game with my Pro's and Con's.

One thing to note, I wrote this up before Mark of Classic Game Room did his review for the game. Make sure you check it out on his channel. I did add a few things after watching his reviews, so please click and check it out!




No Opinion



Music

First off, the sound on pretty much all of Hershey Park's games were really low. So while the game is loud as hell with tons of motors revving and explosions I couldn't really make out the music. Demo trailers used Rob Zombie's "More Human Then Human" as the car select song, but I couldn't make it out in the arcade. (According to Mark of Classic Game Room the game has the song)


Pro's

This game makes a great first impression. The cabinet is huge with bright LED lights that really invite you in. It was the first machine I noticed when I walked into the Play-Dome Arcade. The graphics have a great look and the game runs at a nice smooth frame rate.

Just like San Francisco Rush the game has a ton of hidden secrets and paths. You've got to play the tracks a few times in order to find everything there is. They even hide in "Free Race" boxes if you find and smash you'll get a free game no matter what place you finish.

Multiplayer is a blast. While I only played two games with another person this is where the game really shines. The announcer, Bone Daddy constantly yells at you to smash into the other racers and is a great host telling you when to "YANK THE CRANK!" and what's going on in the game

Be a jerk! One of the games features is the "Jerk-O-Meter" which keeps going up as you cause as much damage and destruction throughout the race. The more of a jerk you are, the better the items you can earn in the item boxes. From mini-guns, rocket launchers, nitro boosts, big wheels and finally the most powerful weapon in the game, the Frostbite that unleashes a wave of icy doom on all of the other racers.

The game has a traditional pass code system that's seen in almost every other arcade racing game that Raw Thrills has been putting out. The thing I like about the system in DD is it's not "Pay to Win". All of the items you gain are cosmetic so even if it's your first time playing the game, you'll stand a chance to somebody that works at the arcade that has everything unlocked. You can also earn achievements in the game. They have ones just for multiplayer, so you've gotta play with other racers to collect them all.

Great Tracks. All of the tracks are unique. Some are point to point where finding the shortcuts pay off, but others are traditional lap races. They also have it so you can play the courses in reverse so you get almost double the tracks.

The game supports up to 8 cabs at the same time. (Hershey Park only has two)

Con's

The game's sense of speed is odd and the cars acted odd to me. I tried about half of the cars and the only thing I noticed is that the bigger the car the more damage they can take, smaller cars like the "Voodoo" truck seemed to take less hits before they blew up. Other then that all the cars felt the same to me. They all get the same power ups, all can bunny hop so it's more of finding a car that you like the looks of.

I would have liked to seen some more defensive items. Most of the items in the game are all ones to attack with, hence being a Jerk. But I would have liked to have seen something like a shield to protect against rockets and cars slamming into you. The monster truck tires are pretty much the only defensive power in the game, but you can still be hit by a rocket or landmine. I would have liked to have seen something like an "Electro-Shield" that would protect against a rocket attack or getting slammed by another racer.

The game only has a gas pedal. I would have liked to have break just so I could do some Outrun 2 style drifts and sideswipe other racers going into a turn. I would have loved that using the "Lock and Load" tank since it's so huge.

The Biggest Con

Just like with H2Overdrive this game is an arcade exclusive. Which is a double edged sword. While having it as an exclusive title gives the arcade operators something the home systems can't get which might encourage players to go out and hunt down a machine to play. But on the flip side, not a lot of people will have an arcade near them or their local arcade might not carry the game. I noticed that while I was reading the replies on Mark's reviews of both games was people saying their towns no longer had arcades or didn't these games.

I really hope in a few years Raw Thrills and Specular Interactive will consider porting both games to home consoles in the future. More people need to play these games and it's a shame that many won't be able to because they either don't live in an arcade with a good arcade scene or their arcade might not bother to carry newer games and want to focus more on tickets. 

The Bottom Line

If you are a fan of Rush and Crusin' you're going to love this game. It's a true arcade racing game. It looks great and it's damn fun to play too. I dropped a good ten dollars into the machine while I was at Hershey and I plan to drop even more when I visit Hershey Park later this summer. While I have my nitpicks about the lack of a break, weapons and the odd way some of the cars handle this game is something you must go out and play. If your local arcade doesn't have it, ask for it! 

Dirty Drivin's Official Site