The Fast & The Furious

Fast and Furious Showdown is a racing video game based on the movie franchise of its namesake. These movies have become cultural icons due to their frenetic pace, explosive action, and exotic cars. Released in 2001, the movies created a new culture of car enthusiasts. With a bright orange paintjob and a massive rear wing, the Toyota Supra came to represent youthful rebellion, power, and most importantly, fun. Producers allowed the vehicles to be the stars of the film. Audiences became captivated by the sound of turbochargers, nitrous, and smoking rubber. The movie spawned a line of racing games including Need for Speed, Test Drive, Forza Motorsport, and Burnout.

Launched in 2013 after the movie Fast Five, Showdown tries to capitalize on the popularity of the movie series. Activision developed the game to piggyback off the movie’s success. To add variety, the game has the same locations, cars, and characters seen in the movie. You are given the ability to race through exotic locales such as: Rio De Janeiro, Los Angeles, Moscow and Germany. Made with collaboration from the Chrysler Corporation, this game features high performance models including the Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, and the classic Daytona Superbird. Other pedestrian models such as the Dodge Dart and Jeep Liberty can also be found. Most of the vehicles in the game appear somewhat convincing and proportional. But, they are lacking in detail and the reflections come off as odd or unrealistic. In addition, the smoke created when vehicles drift or slide looks unconvincing. This game is closer to Crazy Taxi than to iRacing, when it comes to graphic realism. Driving physics are terrible, with no differentiation between vehicles. The sensation of speed is poorly done here.

The game takes you on driving missions that ask you to take on risky objectives. This change of scenery is a welcome change and adds replay value. Unfortunately, the missions are quite often frustrating or overly simplistic. Activision's laziness is clear in the lack of quality. Driving missions are too easy while others fail in an illogical way. Overall, the game lacks polish and is poorly made. If you are a rabid fan of the movie, you may find this game amusing. But be warned as you will meet many frustrations.