Drive Crazy
Play it on: Windows (Steam Deck YMMV*)
Current goal: Drive like a cool guy and not like I’ve got beer goggles on.
When I first came across a clip on Twitter of a Kei truck driving off walls while dodging giant kaiju beams, I knew I had to get my hands on this. Drive Crazy, an early-access racing game developed by TtubezGames where you drive through Japanese cityscapes in a durable AF Kei truck while aliens hunt you down. Before you ask, yes, you do in fact drive like a crazy person in Drive Crazy. So far in my playthrough, I’ve had to dodge belly-flopping kaiju bears, avoid incoming rockets, and shake giant vacuum cleaners and refrigerators, all while my unable Kei truck levels any obstacle that might be blocking off my great escape.
軽トラックで爆走するゲーム『ドライブクレイジー』がSteamで早期アクセス開始 https://t.co/ZnmXNrdsH7 #ドライブクレイジー #DriveCrazy pic.twitter.com/j0co0hUctI
— 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙤🚚軽トラ爆走ゲーム開発中！ (@takaooooooo7) July 31, 2023
While I have pulled off some pop-off-worthy feats like wall-riding the side of a building so I could (with the assistance of the ever-reliable nitro button) bonk a giant kaiju in the noggin with the bumper of my cute little truck, I haven’t quite nailed the maneuver enough times to pull it off consistently. In fact, my driving skills are kinda abysmal in Drive Crazy.
I was made aware of this shameful fact early on in the game during an Outrun-esque drag race where the goal was simply to reach the finish line. No aliens, no kaiju, just vanilla-ass racing. And I was a mess. My poor driving skills had me barreling into ditches and skidding into rice fields where I should have been drifting like I in Initial D. Eventually, I realized that the game will automatically drift corners with the slight turn of the thumbstick if I’m going fast enough, which made my overreliance on the handbrake more of a hindrance in retrospect.
Now that I’ve got my wits about me, my goal this weekend is to beat my previous stage times by handling the game’s tight city corners and to come up with even cooler ways to drive off walls and wrap aliens around the bumper of my kei truck. — Isaiah Colbert
*Your mileage may vary
