Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Developer: Gamepires
Price: $24.99
Platform: PC (Steam)
A copy of Gas Guzzlers Extreme was supplied to us
Driving around offroad race tracks is great when you can blast your opponents with shotguns, but things grow monotonous when forced to drive around a barren wasteland without any weapons.
Gas Guzzlers Extreme combines frantic cart racing chaos with intense shooting. The main goal in all but one mode is to blow up every other car on the track, or to finish in first place without having blown up.
Gas Guzzlers features a single player campaign where players race to become the top driver out of a list of AI players, all of whom have puns for names. In the campaign sponsorships are earned, giving cash to buy upgrades to owned vehicles and buy new cars to fill a garage and collect all 18.
The carting elements are what you might think, power ups are placed on the track and are picked up when driven over. Oil slicks, smokescreens, land mines, repair wrenches, extra cash, ammo crates, boost fills and double damage can all be grabbed this way. Successfully deploying one of the trap items onto the other drivers will earn more points during a race, which are later into more cash.
Gas Guzzlers breaks from a traditional cart racer by mounting offensive weapons to the tops of all of the vehicles. These make the races much more interesting and bring a risk/reward system into play. Do I try and destroy the driver in front of me for the extra cash bonus, or do I swerve around him and save my ammo for when someone tries to pass me?
The limited ammo makes
Driving is fun because staying on the track isn’t necessary. Instead Gas Guzzlers actually rewards players for driving off road. Destroying basic structures like trees, cacti or fences reward drivers by filling the boost meter. Each course is full of branching paths that with different power ups scattered along the way.
Unfortunately when the game makes you simply drive the game loses most of it’s magic, and there is a game mode specific to this. Gas Guzzlers strips away the use of weapons and has drivers race for first place. This isn’t enjoyable because the action of the game grinds to a halt. While most of these races can be avoided by simply not selecting them it still leaves for potential bad experiences.
Some of the more interesting game modes within Gas Guzzlers are the competitive team based arena modes. Gametypes like capture the flag and team deathmatch offer an unexpected variety. These matches are chaotic and fast paced, which are both the strengths and weaknesses of these modes. Team based arena combat
The Final Word
Gas Guzzlers Extreme takes some decent driving mechanics and pairs it with some fun shooting. The campaign mode that surrounds it all is too simplistic and doesn’t offer enough challenge or variety. Gas Guzzlers tries to let players choose the race they want, but in reality the best mode is Knockout. The modes where players lose their offensive weapons show the game’s driving mechanics don’t stand well enough on their own. Gas Guzzlers Extreme is a fun chaotic experience, filled with explosions and chaos while being ultimately repetitive.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
