Gas Guzzlers Extreme Review

As David Jaffe might lament over a few shots of whisky, vehicular combat games just ain’t what they used to be. It’s a genre that died a premature but entirely expected death a long, long time ago, having used up all its charm in a series of knock-offs of a formula that - let’s be realistic here - was a little bit of a novelty in the first place. Somewhere back around the dawn of the Playstation 2 lies verdant enthusiasm for all things CARNAGE and ROADKILL, but there are few big publishers willing to test if it can be rekindled.

With that said, financially-backed games based entirely on weaponised cars are now rare enough to warrant a nostalgic treat, and those warm and fuzzy feelings are a large part of the enjoyment that Gas Guzzlers Extreme managed to wring from my PC over this past week.

Comedy branding is everywhere

This is absolutely unapologetic stuff, and that’s part of the charm. There’s no clumsy story to trip over, no fancy exploding tracks or shape-shifting vehicles, just you, your garage full of ridiculous Reliant Robins and muscle cars adorned with stickers, sponsors all manner of ordinance, and a series of races in which to earn cash and purchase new engine parts, nitrous systems, bodywork upgrades and an ever-increasing arsenal of death. You race, check your savings, upgrade and race again before logging out and coming back for more the next day.



The on-track action sticks to a simplistic format that’s easy to pick up. Races are formed of basic varieties that all loosely adhere to the mandate that going as fast as possible and blowing up whatever’s in your path will bring success. The weaponry ranges from shotguns to machine guns, grenade launchers, mines, smoke and everything in-between. There are two fire buttons to get to grips with (one to fire in front and one to fire behind), a button to release whatever special weapon you’re packing, and that’s it. Vehicle defences are whittled down with visible health meters, eventually exploding in a satisfying bass-heavy display of fire and twisted metal.

Upgrades are plentiful

As far as handling is concerned, Gas Guzzlers Extreme leans towards the likes of BugBear’s Flatout crossed with Evolution’s Motorstorm, with slower cars feeling tangibly weighty whilst faster vehicles are extremely drift-heavy. This is an arcade racer though, make no mistake. Each of the vehicles holds to a quick learning curve, with racing skills bolstered by timed nitrous boosts and dramatic swerves to pick up weapon refills and damage modifiers. Rubber-banding is evident in almost all offline races, leading to equal amounts of satisfaction and exasperation based on whether you just won or lost the race on that final curve.

As a result of those concessions to smoothing out the experience, Gas Guzzlers does eventually settle into an offline rhythm that’s entertaining if not fully engaging. The racing itself is great fun, the cars are suitably pliable and convincingly hefty, the graphical engine renders everything with enough polish and shine to make you happy you’re playing on a PC, but it’s hard to stay invested for ten hours in a singleplayer racing game that introduces catch-up with quite this level of obviousness.

Visual effects are suitably OTT

Unsurprisingly then, online is where Gas Guzzlers Extreme excels, with deathmatches, races, ctf and other “playlist” variants largely impervious to the AI foibles - provided you can find a suitably filled server. It has to be said that despite repeatedly trying for days however, the luxury of six or more human opponents has only occurred a couple of times in my experience. There just aren’t enough people playing to make it routinely easy to find a game at present, and that’s a huge shame for a title that screams out for online support. Hopefully it’ll change in the coming weeks as word spreads.

Gas Guzzlers Extreme is still worth the plunge if you’re at all intrigued by a return to its simple diet of racing carnage however. The mechanics are solid, it looks pretty, and much like a recently resurging obsession with Counter Strike: GO, I found myself dipping in and out of the singleplayer offering as a diversion between lengthier games. And that’s not a comment meant to undermine the game in the slightest; that sort of casual appeal is exactly what an arcade combat racer should represent, and despite a few rubber-banding issues and a dearth of online players, I still find myself going back for more.