Get ready for a road trip, but remove all expectations of some beat named Jack narrating it, bar brawls at the local truck stop, monochrome driving, or any hopes of getting laid with some bint as they’re ‘from a different area code’. Music Drive combines those two things: music and driving.
That’s primarily what most driving games are, right? However, the music theme here relates to the currency of the game: tapes. Alright, currency does serve a purpose, as you can buy new vehicles and weapons with hard-earned dough, but you need the tapes to make money. Step one is to hijack rival gangs in Pursuit mode, then deliver them for cash in Delivery mode.
The promotional material that accompanies Salve Games’ Music Drive: Chase the Beat builds up this picture of Tina and Tunner as this righteous duo representing the music scene by recovering stolen, unreleased tracks like some urban Robin Hood and Little John distributing to the masses and their shell-likes, when in reality, they’re putting holes in whips, then selling for a tidy profit. And that’s cool.
Music Drive: Chase The Beat Review (PS5)
A blast from the past using visuals similar to that seen on a PlayStation One with a toggle for pixelated graphics, you effectively drive in a straight line for a couple of minutes at a time with auto-aimed shots that shred other vehicles. Tina is the driver, and Tunner will lean out the window when within proximity of an enemy and shoot away.
Music Drive: Chase the Beat is a throwback to early 00s gaming in its simplicity and controls. There are no nitros, handbrakes, or gears; just a first- and third-person viewpoint. If anything, you need some patience to grind a stage as there’s not much in the way of challenge. The initial damage caused by gunplay isn’t too bad, but crashing into NPCs that randomly do a U-turn without cause is the worst.
That’s not to say that these gangbangers aren’t a threat, as each time you complete a run, the threat increases to a maximum of five stars. This means that enemies are hardier, do more damage, and are quite plentiful. A swift bribe clears this rating, and it’s somewhat a spoiler as it makes even the last stage incredibly easy without much in the way of resistance.
Pursue And Deliver
After completing a heist in the Pursuit mode, you can then repeat a stage and deliver the tapes you’ve earned. The overall gameplay was unclear, as you earn points, then carry multiple tapes and tackle the later levels for a higher multiplier. It’s similar to Pursuit, but instead of eliminating specific vehicles, you drive in a straight line, and the tapes are automatically offloaded. You keep driving straight and either avoid or take out hostiles, then spend the cash on new vehicles and weaponry.
The starting car in Music Drive: Chase the Beat is perfectly adequate for the majority of the game, and with some investment, you can improve two stats: speed and resistance. However, a sportier car, SUV, camper van and truck are all at your disposal, with the latter rendering Tunner’s gun skills redundant as you can ram most of the enemies with minimal damage incurred. As for the guns, these can also be upgraded, offering a choice of a pistol, automatic rifle, and shotgun. Guess which one is best when maxed out?
With monotonous tracks and minimal driving skill required, zero abilities required for the gun elements other than getting close, and some truly terrible NPC U-turns in the middle of the road mid-run, Music Drive: Chase the Beat sounds a little lame, and finished in a few hours. But as I said earlier, it’s cool, and that’s thanks to simple arcade controls (it’s like a gangster Chase HQ), and get this scoop: the music. I doubt you’ve heard of the artist, but after a few plays, guarantee you’ll be tapping along.
Music Drive: Chase The Beat Review Summary
Taking into account the flaws fingered earlier, we need more games like this with their pick-up-and-play gameplay and removal of unwanted bloat. Whilst I don’t expect anyone to rush out and get this, Music Drive: Chase the Beat was well worth the few hours invested in topping the online leaderboard, even if that’s for a limited time only.
