Cruis'n

Cruis'n is a racing game for the Wii console developed by Just Games Interactive and published by Midway Games. The game was released on November 27, 2007 in North America. The game was later released in Australasia on February 14, 2008 and in Europe on March 27, 2008. It is the fifth game of the eponymous series. It is a port of The Fast and the Furious video game, without the license for the film.

Gameplay

It has similar gameplay to past titles in the Cruis'n series; players race down one-way courses consisting of streets (based on real-life locations) while avoiding various road hazards such as oncoming traffic and constructions. Players can gain a limited temporary boost in speed by using nitrous oxide, otherwise known as N₂O or simply Nitrous.

Cruis'n, like its arcade counterparts, allows players to customize and upgrade their cars' features, such as spoilers, decals, neon lights, ground effects, and engines, which they must purchase with money earned from races.

Cruis'n contains twelve courses which can be raced on four different difficulty levels.

Development

In 2006, Midway was planning to bring The Fast and the Furious to home consoles, but lost the license during the game's production. Midway subsequently changed its name to Cruis'n and hired game developers Just Games Interactive and Raw Thrills, who developed the original The Fast and the Furious. The game was announced in early 2007.

During the summer of 2007, Midway released three screenshots demonstrating dated graphics. They later released additional screenshots and announced a two-player mode as well as a car customization feature for the game. A few months later, Midway released the game, despite experiencing some manufacturing difficulties.

Arcade and Wii differences

• In the Arcade Version, numerous billboards for The Fast and the Furious film appear. In the Wii version, these are replaced by billboards for Midway Games.
• In the Arcade Version in Mulholland Drive, a Universal Studios company makes a cameo appearance. In the Wii version it was replaced by Midway Games studios.
• In the Arcade Version, the rear license plate on all the cars reads "FNF" and the driver resembles Vin Diesel. In the Wii port the license reads "MWY" (for Midway) and there is no visible driver, even in the convertible-top cars.
• In the Arcade Version the Hollywood Sign appears in the Hollywood stage. In the Wii version it is changed to a Los Angeles sign.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 22.50%[1] Metacritic 25/100[2] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 1/10[3] GameSpot 2.5/10[4] GamesRadar [5] IGN 3/10[6] VideoGamer.com 2/10[7]

Cruis'n fared poorly in reception; GameRankings gave it a score of 22.50%,^[1] while Metacritic gave it 25 out of 100.^[2] Many critics thought it was another version of The Fast and the Furious arcade game with few new features. The main areas of criticism were its outdated gameplay, poor sound, lack of extra features, and lack of depth; the game can be beaten in less than an hour. Its loading times were considered problematic as it takes up to a minute to load a race. The game's graphics were also heavily criticized for resembling a game from the Nintendo 64 era. Though the game was often praised for its responsive controls, the overall experience of the game was negative. Some reviews expressed the belief that Cruis'n was a quick cash-out for Midway.

Cruis'n sold 14,260 copies during its first week of release in North America. Sales dropped in the following weeks, in part due to manufacturing difficulties.

References

External links

• Official website