Cruis'n Blast Reviews
It’s wild, nonsensical, hilarious, fast and sometimes a little annoying. But I’m gonna keep coming back to it every time I remember I have it.
Cruis'n Blast is as arcadey as an arcade racer can be. It has the high thrills and high stakes that are so over the top, but that's the charm of the Cruis'n series. It doesn't require so much setup to just get a few races in. If you are itching for wild thrills and quick rides, this is the perfect pickup.
Overall, whether I'd recommend Cruis'n Blast on Nintendo Switch depends on how you're going to play it. For short bursts, it's a solid entry and you'll likely have a lot of fun with it, though you may want to wait for a sale anyway. The controls work well, and there's a lot of replayability when it comes to finding all the keys. But there's a reason these games are meant for arcades and not for home release. There's simply not enough track variety to play for an extended period without feeling like you've replayed the same courses over and over. The best parts of the game are using the wacky vehicles like a Triceratops to race, but even the novelty of that will likely wear off after a few races. If you're looking for something bigger or more long-term, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.
As long as you're willing to put up with some performance hits and the fact that there's no online multiplayer, Cruis'n Blast is a hugely entertaining arcade style racer with incredible set-pieces that has us crossing every possible body part in the hope that it's successful enough to encourage more of the same somewhere down the line.
A must-rent if you own a Switch. A possible buy if shamelessly silly arcade-racing fun sounds up your alley.
There's no doubt that Cruis'n Blast is going to serve a relatively niche audience, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The sheer spectacle on display combined with vast opportunity for technical skill makes for an incredibly engaging arcade racing game that focuses on letting the player have pure, unfiltered fun. It's a shame that there isn't any form of online functionality to provide a little extra meaning to the experience, since that little extra motivation could've elevated Cruis'n Blast from a good game to a great game.
Cruis'n Blast is a faithful port of the arcade classic, that suffers from the straight port of the same game. It's fun, it's fast, and will keep you entertained for hours. However, unless you're a huge fan of arcade racers, you may end up putting this down and never picking it back up. There's no substance and that hurts the game in the long run.
All things considered, it took me a little over an hour or so to see just about everything that Cruis’n Blast has to offer. The Nintendo Switch racing scene has been dominated by Mario Kart and I feel like Cruis’n Blast had a chance to make a real case for bringing other classic Nintendo racers back into the scene. But if lackluster graphics and mediocre racing mechanics are all we’d get it might be better to leave our precious memories in the past. Cruis’n Blast isn’t unplayable though and would probably make an enjoyable experience for someone with kids or younger siblings. Everyone else should probably head to the arcade and hope they have a much more enjoyable arcade experience available to try out.
Cruis’n Blast is a fantastic trip back to the past with some modern luxuries to round out the package. This is not a game for everyone. It can be maxed out in a day and the replay comes from the enjoyment of the races and tracks themselves. If you are into that though, you will be hard-pressed to find a more polished version of an arcade racing game to date. You can feel the love from Raw Thrills past work poured into this game and I hope it eventually makes its way onto other platforms at some point. Everyone should get a chance to experience the thrill of arcade racing in its finest form.
There’s definitely still a place for games like Cruis’n Blast in today’s world, and I’m grateful to Nintendo for taking a bit of a risk on putting this one out there. It may not be to everyone’s taste — particularly given its lack of online modes and unabashedly quick-fire “arcade” format — but for those of us who have been in mourning for Bizarre Creations and Black Rock Studios for the past 11 years… well, it’s time to buckle up and have some fun once again.
As I mentioned earlier, Cruis’n Blast is exactly what I want out of an arcade racer. It’s fun, it drives well, it’s over the top, and it’s arcade racing in its near-perfected form. The only way this could be better would be Raw Thrills shipping the arcade unit to dock your Switch in.
Cruis'n Blast presents an arcade racing formula that's exciting at first but quickly wears thin due to its lack of challenge or need for skill. That being said, it can still be enjoyable for a few rounds of old-school racing entertainment with friends.
Crusin’ Blast is a new take on an old classic that doesn’t abandon its roots and will introduce itself to a new audience of young gamers, who I think will love it.
Cruis’n Blast focuses on style over substance, making the end result feel a bit hollow. Navigating a careening ferris wheel is the stuff action movies are made of, but there’s just not enough content here to justify picking this home release up over sinking a few bucks into the arcade version.
I absolutely do miss those days. I can’t get on with realistic racing games, so I crave a steady diet of the stuff that Cruis’n Blast gives. At the same time, I normally rented racing games on the N64 and rarely bought them. The same would have held true for Cruis’n Blast. It’s too fleeting to really grab hold of my grey matter and make a home there. I had a lot of fun while it lasted, but now it’s time to return to the beige, carefully curated modernity.
For all its faults, Cruis'n Blast does a great job of capturing the style of its '90s predecessors. Throughout its various cups and in multiplayer, there's a lot of arcade fun that's a welcome break for anyone tired of Mario Kart 8. It's easy to wish that more time went into having a variety of modes rather than tracks that can feel too similar to stand out, and the graphics certainly aren't hiding the fact that this game was first released five years ago. Still, anyone looking to relive the days of Cruis'n USA will find a lot to like by taking a whirlwind tour of what Blast has to offer.
If you have friends to play with regularly, Cruis’n Blast can provide light arcade-style thrills. With over-the-top courses, a catchy soundtrack, and simple gameplay, there’s fun to be had. There’s just not enough content to justify it for anyone else, though, especially when basic features expected of the genre are missing.
When it comes to over-the-top, crazy, and almost excessively arcade-style racing I'm not sure anything out there can quite match the classic Cruis'n series...
Cruis'n Blast is a by-the-numbers racing game that is fun for an afternoon, but with little to offer to make it worth it to keep playing.