BeamNG.drive Reviews
The bottom line is if you're hoping for the full BeamNG.drive experience on your console, you should check something else out because this isn't it.
I had a lot of fun with BeamNG.drive, but it definitely has its issues. Limitations of both the console and the controller, as well as no mods, make this an inferior version of its PC counterpart. That said, this is definitely a game I will jump back into every now and then to play around with. Great for a quick gaming session when you just don’t want to commit to something for more than an hour or so. One I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on for future updates, and that inevitable 1.0 release. Therefore, I’ll be giving BeamNG.drive the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
All of the issues I’ve pointed out here are things that I can imagine will be smoothed out in the fullness of time, if BeamNG continue to support the console version of the game. It’s not that it’s a bad game; aside from the technical limitations, the foundations are a fun and quite unique experience, but knowing just how much more content PC gamers get with the mods and VR support (if that’s your thing) makes the console port a somewhat bitter pill to swallow, when you really want to just dive in and create your own bonkers stunt park and throw yourselves at it. I genuinely hope that the game continues to be supported and, in a year or two, revisit BeamNG.Drive and pronounce that it is a must-have title for fans of open-world racing. Until then – I’d recommend this for local multiplayer laughs, or for single players who enjoy tinkering.
I knew that porting BeamNG.drive onto a console was going to be a tough endeavor. All in all, it’s a pretty deep driving sandbox with a shocking amount of content and activities, but the lack of modding support removes a good chunk of what made it so famous over the past decade. It’s less of a silly sandbox that lets you do pretty much anything you can think of with a wheeled machine, and more of a, uh, “serious” title, meant for those looking for something less wacky and more relaxing. It feels a bit incomplete when compared to the decade-long Steam version, but there’s still a lot to laud about this complex physics engine actually being ported to a console for the first time ever.