Cruis'n Blast Critic Reviews

Cruis’n Blast is arcade racing in its absolute best form imaginable, and if you want a racing game that leaves you grinning like an idiot the entire time you’re playing it, I couldn’t recommend it any more highly.

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.

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.

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.

Cruis’n Blast is as arcade-y 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.

If you’ve played previous Cruis’n games before, you know what you’re getting into. I had an absolute blast playing Cruis’n Blast and highly recommend it for any speed junkies that need a quick, fun fix on their Switch.

Cruis’n Blast is the most thrilling racing experience on Switch and the best arcade racer in years. It plays like a dream and offers up more control options than most arcade racers on the console. Its diverse lineup of vehicles, tracks and various track-related setpieces are tremendous and keep the player engaged from beginning to end. Other than the lack of online multiplayer, it’s hard to find something missing from the overall presentation given what the game is trying to be. The sound design is fantastic as well — with a fun soundtrack that’s breezy and easy on the ears.

Cruis’n Blast is an excellent return for the series and genre as a whole. The lack of online multiplayer hurts but there is a lot to enjoy for solo players and those who can play locally. Fantastic visuals and track set-pieces make this an engaging, fun time.

Cruis'n Blast is a very pleasant surprise for those who crave arcade racing over the simulation style. It nails the speed and the ease with which anyone can pick it up and play, thanks to a simplified control scheme and the easy AI difficulty in the early stages. Although the variety is superficial, there's a good variety of tracks here and plenty of oddball vehicles for players to unlock. One can argue that the game isn't deep, and dedicated players can get almost everything done in a day, but with pure arcade racing being gone for so long, you tend to forgive all of that when you're enjoying every moment.

The racing in Cruis’n Blast truly reflects the game’s arcade roots, focusing on fun over-the-top thrills over any sort of realism. As long as you are okay with that, you’ll likely have as a good of a time with this Switch version as I did. I do wish there was support for online multiplayer as not everyone is going to have willing players in their vicinity, but I guess if a casual player was going to join in on any racing game without Mario in it, it might be this one. It’s colorful, silly, fast, and stylish. Raw Thrills did just about everything it could to make this home version the ultimate way to go Cruis’n, and it certainly does a good job of scratching an itch.

Cruis'n Blast is a wild time from top to bottom, and what it might lack in quantity, it makes up for in quality and replayability. If you like arcade racing, don't let this pass you by. It truly is a blast!

When the legendary authors of the classic arcade games completely ignore reality for the sake of crazy, over the top entertainment, we get something really extraordinary.

Cruis’n Blast is great at what it does. However, there’s not much here beyond straightforward, arcade racing. While this was generally great for me, how much mileage someone will get out of it depends on how much they enjoy this relatively simple genre.

In a way, Cruis’n Blast is a rollercoaster. It’s fast, fun and it also ends way too quickly.Its spirit is firmly planted in a bygone era for games, which still does its best to entertain people - regardless of their age.

A completely crazy arcade game, ideal for those who want tightrope walkers, negligible for everyone else.

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.

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.

In short bursts, Cruis'n Blast is a solid racing entry that you'll likely have a lot of fun with, but its simplicity and lack of track variety reflect that these games are better intended for the arcade than as a home release. If you're looking for a more substantial racing experience, you'd be better off looking elsewhere.

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.

Cruis’n Blast shoves players kicking and screaming to the time when the Dreamcast was king, racing was purely about things blowing up for no reason, and unicorns had great engine noises. And I love it for that.