Drive Girls Review (Vita)

What is Drive Girls? A racing game is what you’d assume it to be at first but you’d only be partially correct! Drive Girls is basically Senran Kagura with racing elements, and you’ll want to race away yourself so that you don’t have to fight on the same stage again and again and again any longer.

 

In a world where people can transform into vehicles and enemies known as Bugs are constantly attacking your home of Sun Island, you’ll be left wondering which of those two proceedings is the strangest. Lancier is a girl who has a desire to help people in a more ordinary way that doesn’t include combat, but she’s tricked into using her powers to fight Bugs and to put herself in danger’s way daily. Although she’s initially upset that she was tricked into this new role, she quickly takes it in stride as she slashes Bugs down in both human and car form — it doesn’t really sound much better now that I’m writing it out…

 

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I didn’t expect a good story or character writing when coming into Drive Girls, and it delivered on those expectations.

I didn’t expect a good story or character writing when coming into Drive Girls, and it delivered on those expectations — it’s just a vehicle (hahaha) to throw you onto the tiny amount of maps offered to fight the same enemies repeatedly. It becomes tiring very quickly, and it’s amongst one of the most repetitive games not only on Vita, but ever. I can’t imagine that anybody is defending Drive Girls as a good game in any aspect, and its gameplay is as abhorrently dull as much as almost every mission beginning with alarms and a ‘Drive Girls move out!’ sequence.

 

You’ll string basic combos together using a mix of light and strong attacks whilst dodging incoming attacks. You can change into a car with a quick press of the R button, but the clunky driving and limited moveset makes it pretty useless for combat. An insignificant variety in enemies means you’ll be mindlessly slashing away at the same foes and even the maps have very little variation.

 

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Drive Girls isn’t fun, isn’t creative and it certainly isn’t good.

Missions take part on what seems to be the same small handful of areas, and don’t expect to see much change of scenery throughout your tedious adventure. The driving mechanics are basically accelerate, brake and drift, but drifting isn’t needed due to the games lack of tight corners and it’s difficult to control. Drive Girls isn’t fun, isn’t creative and it certainly isn’t good.

 

Drive Girls has some decent character models but otherwise fails to impress on any level, with its repetitive maps and lack of aesthetic customisation being the main offenders — there is customisation, but it’s mostly for stats and doesn’t do much to change your character or their vehicle form visually. The 2D art and character designs aren’t much better as they’re bland and uninteresting, and do very little to elicit any form of reaction — this really is an incredibly underwhelming game, and I’m a little surprised that it got localised. It’s music is alright but forgettable, and its Japanese voice-acting is solid for what it is — it doesn’t make up for its weak script though.

 

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Drive Girls isn’t worth your time or money at almost any price.

Drive Girls isn’t worth your time or money at almost any price, and it’s not a hidden gem on the Vita by any stretch. Avoid Drive Girls and spend your money on one of Vita’s far better, and more deserving, games because not only is Drive Girls’ campaign longer than it should be considering its lack of gameplay options, but its multiplayer will certainly not see the longevity of a lot of other online games. Drive Girls is a car wreck of a game and if you’re hoping for fan-service then there isn’t a whole lot of that here either bar some clothing damage. Drive Girls will never find its way back onto my beloved Vita, and it’s simply a bad game.

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