Crazy Trucks [Xbox]
Developed by Marionette Games, Crazy Trucks is a party racing game for 1-4 players, where you’ll get behind the wheel of a truck and drive around an arena to fulfil a bunch of different objectives. You’ve got Single Player and Multi Player modes, with all game types being the same in both, aside from Football, which is only available in multiplayer. Single Player is literally you alone, no AI players to be found, which makes it feel very empty and lacklustre, which was disappointing to say the least, as whilst this is a game we can play with the kids, having the option to play alone is there - it just feels like it shouldn’t be. There’s also no online support at present, so if you’ve got nobody to play locally with, then that’s just tough luck.
The modes available include a Collect mode known as Prop Hunt, which had us thinking it would be like a hide and seek style mode for players to find the other players hidden among the level decorations, however it’s actually just to track down a certain number of floating gear icons in a set amount of time. There’s also Football, which our son described as a kinda fun, bootleg Rocket League, although the controls and floaty physics can make this very frustrating.
Additionally there is a Scrabble mode called “Alphabet Flow” which sees you with a set time period and you’ve got to collect letters to reach a certain point threshold. Collecting the letters in order allows you to nab a bonus 2000 points, but trying to do so is infuriating due to how floaty your truck is, and this makes landing jumps or aiming for particular letters pretty difficult. Thankfully, collecting any letters out of order won’t reset the slogan.
Likewise, the racing modes feel off, as Racing doesn’t point you in the direction of the next checkpoint. High League is frustrating due to the tight turns in conjunction with the tall hills, meaning you’ll often go flying unnecessarily due to the floaty controls. And finally, there’s a Storage Wars mode that has you stealing tyres from competitors.
Visually, it’s quite cute, with a simple, bright design - with trucks having big chunky donut styled wheels, and lots of colour everywhere - but due to how empty things feel, even if you’ve got a few folk to play with, it kinda brings everything down in a way. It’s a game that could be improved with a bit of fine-tuning to the controls to make them a bit more precise, and less floaty - as whilst this does add a layer of unpredictability to playing with friends - it can easily make you feel robbed of a win.
Priced at £8.39 on Xbox, it feels expensive for what it is at present. There’s potential here, don’t get me wrong - but as it stands, it feels quite unfinished, which is a shame as we really liked the look of this. Even just adding an online mode would be a huge improvement, as with no option for this you’re pretty much stuck if you don’t have people to play with at home, so hopefully the developers will continue to provide updates to the game over time.
In the end, we decided to give Crazy Trucks the Collecting Asylum rating of 4/10.
Are you interested in Crazy Trucks? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Prison Games for the Crazy Trucks Xbox review code, as well as the two extra codes provided for a giveaway!
