Developer: M2H
Publisher: M2H
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Android, iOS
Tested on: PS5, PC
Crash Drive 3 – Review
There are two things that are massively popular in the gaming industry right now, and those are cross-platform play and party games. We have seen a huge influx in both the party game genre and crossplay features, making sure friends can have fun together, no matter what platform they own a specific game on. This also proves to be true for Crash Drive 3 that has released its game across practically all relevant platforms, including last-gen and next-gen consoles, PC, and mobile. While the game is a buggy mess most of the time, some mild fun can be had with friends.
Story
Crash Drive 3 features no story content whatsoever. You’ll have a few tutorials to play through, new cars to purchase and upgrade, and new maps to unlock. The goal is basically to grind for a lot of money, allowing you to keep buying new rides to drive around with.
Graphics
Even though we played both the PS5 and PC versions of the game, it’s clear that this is a multi-platform release. The game’s visual quality is very low-end and does not really scream it’s a game for the current generation of consoles. That being said, there are a lot of fun car designs in the game, and, with some polish, the maps could also look fairly good. Of course, better graphical quality would also mean less stability, so in a way, we can understand some design choices. Sadly, most of the different worlds look flat, as most textures are simply a color smeared over the surfaces, trying to imitate grassy fields or even snowy plains. It somewhat evokes mixed feelings, as it feels like you’re playing a game that was released over a decade ago.
Sound
While every department of this game still has a lot of components that are somewhat likable, the sound design is absolutely horrible. Not only does the music become gratingly annoying as you play the game, but it’s also just generic rubbish that sounds like it comes from a royalty-free sound library. The sound effects also suffer from the same fate, offering little more than an accompaniment for what happens on-screen.
Gameplay
Crash Drive 3 is a cross-platform racing and stunting game, where it’s all about competing with fellow players, winning events, and eventually getting more and more money to buy new cars and customize them. The overall offset is simple, and there is something about the game that does entice players to keep going. Sadly, it’s also held back by its very random mechanics that can often prove to be somewhat unfair and its poor implementation of crossplay for actually playing with friends.
We have to say that we started playing the game before it was released, and it was an absolute snoozefest when playing solo, or with that one other player that always happened to be online. Upon release, however, things became a lot more fun. You had (unknown) competitors, and the crossplay formula seemingly works quite well when it comes to matching strangers on different platforms but not for adding your friends. We did notice a lot more ‘lag’ when a lot of mobile players would join the sessions. The latter also play the game for free, albeit with lower prize winnings, ads, and microtransactions, while PC and console players pay a slightly overpriced fee of entry. This is made even more clear when you’re the only person playing the console or PC version in an entire lobby of mobile gamers, who then drag the entire experience down with tons of lag. Keep in mind, most of these people play via WiFi or a data pack that absolutely sucks. It’s even worse when you notice you’re one of the few players who is actually higher than level one, clearly seeing a lot of people just throw the towel in the ring after a few forever-repeating events.
This game is basically a grinding simulator, where you just try to perform as best as you can during the different short events, hoping to get more money, buy new cars, level them up, and do the same thing over and over again. You do have five different worlds to unlock, but these also offer the same events over and over again, and it just becomes a bit bland after a while. After getting roughly half of the achievements of the game, you’ll notice that this title has little to no content available and also lacks a certain balance. If you go to the garage during an event, you’ll lose progress, even if you have, for example, already finished the objective. If players leave in a full game, while you still need to get your prize, you’ll get a lower cash reward, even though you may have competed against a higher number of players. Finding friends on a different platform? Well, good luck buddy, you’re in for a bumpy ride, as there is no invite system, no tags, no accounts, nada. This means that you and your friend(s) may end up paying a lot of money for a crossplay function, while never being able to play together anyway. As a whole, things don’t feel finished or thought through, and this is even further emphasized when you get stuck in walls, when the camera basically spasms out, or when the lag does not even register you driving into other cars for certain events where this is a key component to win.
Conclusion
Crash Drive 3 can be entertaining for an hour or two when played with friends (if you can find them), or just online as a whole (if you can stand the lag). If you’re looking to play solo, we can easily say to skip this one, as making money and/or unlocking new cars will be an arduous and near-impossible task to accomplish. We do hope that certain items are implemented to make crossplay easier with friends, as now it’s a matter of luck of ending up in the same server as your friends if you do not have them on the same platform, thus lacking an invite option. This project has a lot of fun ideas, but as it stands now, you can either opt for the free version with a lot of cash-grab options in play, or an unpolished overpriced console/PC version that gets dragged down by the freemium players who game on their potato-powered phones. We can still mildly recommend this one when heavily discounted.
Crash Drive 3 - Review,
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