On the bright side, the vehicles themselves look fairly nice, although one controls much the same as the next. Also, the included weapons are rendered pointless by the stiff controls and the lack of any kind of tutorial means that you are initially left wondering if you’re doing something wrong. Don’t blame yourself. Exploding your vehicle by driving into a wall and being presented with the message ‘You killed self’ should give you a rough idea of what you’re up against. It’s not sharp enemy AI or rough terrain that’s for sure – unfortunately, it’s a far more terrifying adversary: bad game design.
"This could easily be forgiven if Smash ‘N’ Survive was actually fun to play. Suffice to say, it isn’t. It's a shallow, repetitive, withering wreck that will not only bore and frustrate, but also make your ears bleed. "
Every now and then a downloadable title comes along and shocks you with its depth, ambition and technical expertise... this game is not one of those downloadable gems.
Liam Richardson writes: "“Is that… is that Greggs?” asked Ben, my housemate and fellow Gamer Nation writer, as he stared at the bizzare scene in front of him. “Yes” I replied, equally as bemused as he was, “It is”.
Smash ‘N’ Survive, a PS3 exclusive racing / destruction game, is an odd little title.
What we were witnessing was the first nail in the game’s frustratingly mediocre coffin. The very first level of Smash ‘N’ Survive is a city, populated with fictional shops such as “Pimp your car” as well as real ones such as Greggs the baker and Timpson the locksmiths. We initially thought that these were here intentionally, I mean product placement isn’t exactly an unfamiliar concept these days, but after watching the credits we realised that there was no reference to these companies ever agreeing to having their shops featured within the game. Bafflingly, they’re just there out of choice.
In a way, this was almost the high point of my entire experience with this game, and when I start a review with a humorous anecdote regarding possible copyright infringement, you know you’re in for a good time."
