[Review] #Drive - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Pixel Perfect Dude
Published By: PM Studios
Categories: Driving
Release Date: 02.16.21

Much like the film, Pieces’ tagline “It’s exactly what you think it is”, #Drive is exactly what you think it is. A driving game. You drive.

#Drive is an auto driver, with you only controlling your turns, breaks, and drifts. It sounds simple, and it honestly is, but I’d be a liar if I said the controls didn’t take getting used to. It’s a bit slick, but that might seem harder to describe to someone unless they play it. While driving, you’ll see plenty of places to grab powerups. Gas stations to refill fuel, a mechanic to repair damage, snack stops to grab bait for the police the chase you.

Last but not least a little mystery stop wich grants a mystery power up. These range from getting a plow to literally plow through other cars, a magnet to pull in collectable bottle caps, this game’s currency for unlockables, a trainee cap for the car to slow everything down for easier maneuvering, etc… Going through any of these stops is a good idea, especially the fuel and snack stops.

There is an obscene number of unlockables in #Drive. From a massive number of cars in their own classes, including “Cool” versions of each car, which gather more points the the standard, to about half a dozen different countries to drive in, with their own cities to see. Everything has their own unique, creative logo. Cars are unlocked with the bottle caps, by leveling up, or by doing certain achievements. New countries by earning postcards, which are gained by either just playing a run, or by hitting new cities. The game logs all of these, so you’ll be quite busy.

The game has a leveling system, as mentioned earlier. To level up, you simply just have to do a set of three challenges. A handful of challenges are a tad vague as to what the goal actually is even with the hints. For instance, one challenge was to “Learn to Drive”. I assume this was doing the tutorial. It was in fact getting that Drivers Training cap powerup I mentioned previously. Or “Outrun the Police”. This isn’t just to use a donut like you would think, it’s simply by ignoring the donuts and letting a police car chase you. Outside of this and the occasional grindy challenge, doing these to level up felt rewarding and I constantly wanted to keep leveling up to unlock more cars.

I was hooked. If I failed almost instantly, I’d hop right back in. The game is simple and rather swift, so pick up and play is most likely the recommended way of enjoying the game. Not much gets old when replaying the game, the music especially. Music in #Drive is fantastic, and perfect for cruising tunes. Unfortunately, the driver’s lines, while funny at first, get very, very old and repeat endlessly. Miss a stop, repeated voice line. Get an item, another line repeated. Again and again, and again. There’s no way I could tell to turn these voices off.

Thankfully, the repetitive comments from the driver are the biggest issue I have with the game. Some might find how grindy it can become to be an issue, but with how easy is is to just jump into the game, and it’s addicting nature, I never was too bothered by it. Unlocking some of the more weird cars like a mailbox, an old timey buggie, or even the “not” Ghostbusters car was worth my time and I’m sure it’ll be worth other players’ time too.