An outrageous and anarchic throwback racer built for people allergic to brake buttons, Cruis’n Blast is a goofy and cheesily garish ode to a near-extinct style of arcade racing that once ruled the road. Extremely easy to pick up and play and primed to appeal to anyone whose favourite colour starts with the word “neon”, Cruis’n Blast wears all of its old-school sensibilities proudly on its sleeve.
While this is refreshing to a degree, the unfortunate side effects of its simple arcade approach are that it does run dry of thrills after only a couple of afternoons and there are definitely times where it seems as prehistoric as its hilariously peculiar garage.
Above everything else Cruis’n Blast is properly fast, and this speed is arguably its greatest asset. Cruis’n Blast is a racing game in fast-forward, and every event feels a little like trying to hug a heat seeking missile fired through a waterslide. The sheer speed makes the racing a lot of fun, even if the chaos can sometimes overlap so much it becomes a little numbing after a while.
Above everything else Cruis’n Blast is properly fast, and this speed is arguably its greatest asset.
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Tumble Cruise
If you’re wondering if Cruis’n Blast’s constantly somersaulting and corkscrewing cars means you’ll need high-grade controller skills to pull off these tricks, you can stop wondering. There really isn’t any turbocharged Tony Hawk-level of complexity here, and most of the time the fancy flips I performed while playing were completely by accident. To be honest, the majority of the stunts actually seem fairly inconsequential to winning or losing, although ripping a wheelie into the rear of an opponent to flip over and overtake is generally quite effective.
Despite appearances, Cruis’n Blast is actually very easy to play. In fact, it took me several hours to even realise there was a dedicated brake button – and even once I knew it was there, I’ve still never used it. Scraping against the forgiving track boundaries will also simply fling you back on course with little to no loss of momentum. Drifting is extremely undemanding, and it’s quite simple to increase or reduce drift angle to carve through any corner. Like plenty of arcade racers, drifting is the key to building boost. In Cruis’n Blast it’s possible to preserve a drift at an extremely low angle – low enough to maintain through lengthy stretches of straight road – so building boost is no hassle.
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