I hadn’t heard of Gas Guzzlers Extreme when it was released on Steam three years ago, but I am glad I was able to check out the recent Xbox One release of it, despite its flaws. Anyone who can look past them though and loved famous titles such as Twisted Metal, Destruction Derby, and even Mario Kart will have a blast (or get blasted) playing this one that brings the fun and pain for all who play.
As you can imagine, there’s not much of a story to this one, as you’re a person looking to race cars and blast other racers off the track. So of course there’s someone out there who wants to sponsor you and gives you enough money to get a junky but reliable starter car to get you into the racing ring. As you win and destroy the tracks and other racers, you’ll earn cash to use on buying new cars, customization options, weapons and upgrades from machine guns and shotguns,. You also earn funds from completing bonus objectives and finding drops of it on the tracks you race on. Luckily the controls for this racer are pretty spot on and give you option to fire weapons both in front of you and behind as you blast your way to the top.
As you make your way through the career mode, you’ll unlock all sorts of new race challenges and modes to play that will put your racing and destructive skills to the test. If you keep at it enough, your sponsor will enter you into special events such as destruction derbies where you can earn loads of cash and rewards. Oh, did I mention there’s also a zombie mode? Yes, you can finally run over and blast the undead with your car as waves of them keep coming at you along with giant boss zombies that will try to take you down.
Of course for all the good things about this title, there are a few things that aren’t such a blast, This is a low-budget game and it makes no attempt to hide this fact from you once you pop it in. Everything from long load times, repetitive, cheap rock music, to early last-gen console graphics complete with screen tearing and pop-in all make their presence known as you play. Despite these things, the game runs well with a solid framerate and has some crazy voice clips you can pick for your driver that range to a Duke Nukem wannabe to an Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabe.
Gas Guzzlers Extreme is a low budget game that doesn’t try to hide what it is. Despite this, it is still a fun title to play when you feel the need for speed and blasting things. Under the long load times and so-so graphics, there’s a good time to be had here thanks to the different ways you can play and of course having a zombie mode. So if you’re willing to look past its rusty exterior, you’ll find a beast of a game you’ll want drive around, if you don’t get blasted to scrap first.