Action, Rhythm and Arcade Racing: Music Drive has it all.
Arcade racers are almost a thing of the past nowadays, left behind as we continue in our mission for more realistic simulators. Forza, Gran Turismo and the Formula 1 games are among the most popular racing games right now, but it never used to be this way. Rewind the clock twenty years, and franchises such as Burnout and Need for Speed ruled the roost, arcade racing with gimmicks and pick-up-and-playability were the priority. So does Music Drive take us back to those days?
Well, that’s why it came sliding into my inbox after a conversation with my editor. We were discussing old style arcades, you know the ones: Claw machines, House of the Dead shooters, penny machines; and good old fashioned racers. I remember franchises like Outlast and Daytona being the most popular. Music Drive is off to a good start with its gameplay. It’s short, simple, and easy.
There are two game modes to Music Drive; Pursuit and Delivery. Both modes work together and compliment one another, which makes for good incentive to play both modes. Once you’ve picked your car and weapon, you’re off to the races. First you should start with the Pursuit mode, in which The Haters have stolen our tapes and we’re gonna get them back. As we drive along the circuit, enemies will spawn and shoot at you. You have an AI companion who will shoot back for you, no input required, and take cars out for you as you go. Once you’ve destroyed the target cars, you simply have to get to the end point without blowing up. Simple, right?
Well, yes, in theory. The difficulty ramps up pretty quick, forcing you to spend your cash on upgrades and new cars and weapons if you want to stay competitive. The music you’re playing around also isn’t bad — a mix of Brazilian Hip Hop and R’n’B. It’s not the kind of music I expected for the theme of the game, but it suits it quite well. I was vibing as I played. And I suppose that’s all you can ask for a good soundtrack.
Delivery is our second mode. With the tapes you collected from Pursuit, you’ll drive along the same routes, this time delivering the tapes and making money on each delivery. If you wreck here and fail, you lose all the tapes you were carrying, so you’ll be back to Pursuit to collect more. It’s a little harsh, but not too much of a chore.
So the gameplay loop is pretty solid. Any complaints? Well, no game is perfect, and Music Drive is no exception here. It feels too much of a grind to make decent money to upgrade anything. The music too, while pretty good, needs more variety. PC modding could solve this, but I also understand paying for music licenses is expensive — so, you can consider that one a personal nitpick. I’d also have appreciated the ability to shoot for myself rather than the AI handling it for me. I feel it would be a bit better for skill expression.
Ultimately, Music Drive is small and snacky, which is exactly what it needs to be. This is a great example of what can be done with very little, and I hope they add a few new modes to keep it fresh.
Music Drive: Chase the Beat is available now on Steam, Xbox, and Nintendo.