Review: Beach Buggy Blitz
Beach Buggy Blitz is a 3D driving game in which the goal is to travel as far as possible before running out of time – collecting coins, dodging pitfalls, and passing time-increasing checkpoints along the way. In practice, it plays like a 3D endless runner in the same vein as Jetpack Joyride, with a few caveats.
The graphics are nice, the music and sound design appropriate, and navigating the game world feels responsive and provides a decent level of challenge. The interface is a little rough around the edges, but not distractingly so.
The biggest weakness here is in the repetitiveness of the level design. The game promises procedurally generated levels, meaning every run is different. In practice, this often breaks, leaving you stuck playing the same course over and over again. When it does work, the only parts of the run that end up feeling different are the parts at the very end – the early stages of the course pull from a very limited pool of level designs. And thatâs when the course bothers to change at all.
For a game like this to be a classic, it is essential for each run to feel different than the previous. Jetpack Joyrideâs addictiveness comes not just from the gameplay, but from the way each run feels like a fresh experience with fresh challenges.
Beach Buggy Blitz sufferers heavily from a lack of variety. The lack of change in course design makes it quickly apparent that no amount of skill in the world will get you past certain checkpoints – you must upgrade your car, and you canât upgrade your car without coins, and you get coins by driving the same time-limited track designs over and over again. Progress feels governed not by skill, but by grinding.
Beach Buggy Blitz supports both the Standard and Extended layout, though in-game only; menu navigation requires touch. Navigation is mapped for the D-pad for both controller layouts, but can be manually reassigned to anything you want in the settings – Extended controller users will likely want to map navigation to the joystick. Controls feel responsive, and are a noticeable improvement over playing the game with Touch or Tilt controls.
Beach Buggy Blitz could have, and should have, been better than this. Developer Vector Unit is responsible for the much superior water racing game Riptide GP2, and the difference in quality between these games is noticeable. Riptide GP2 is a newer game, and it is obvious that developer Vector Unit has learned much in the time between these games. Lets hope they bring some of that knowledge back here, and update this game with more than just controller support.
There just isnât that much to see here, and thatâs unfortunate – It feels like a decent game engine is wasted on such a short experience. There is potential in this game, but it is severely underexploited. As a free game, this is an entertaining way to spend a half hour or so, but there just isnât much to come back to when the initial thrill wears off.