Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition

We think we could forgive its simplicity if the handling was better and the price was lower, because there is fun in the outrageous nature of some of the tracks.

Fast & Furious Arcade is a title that should not exist and that there is no reason to engage with.

It just lacks content, and the brutal AI kills any replayability. Combine that with no online mode and this title falls short of a must-have.

Looking like a shadow of the good games in the genre and the film franchise that gives it its name, Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition might be worth a couple of tokens on the dusty arcade machines in a shopping mall, but its shallow concepts and meager content are utterly insufficient for anything even remotely meaningful beyond that.

Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition is solid, adrenaline-fueled fun, but it stays so true to its arcade roots that it will undoubtedly grow tiresome for many modern players. It works as a short, intense quick fix, but its archaic approach to controls, content, and difficulty shows why today’s racing games have moved in a different direction. The port, at least on the PlayStation 5, is free of serious technical issues, and fans of pure arcade games will enjoy it. For everyone else, however, this fast and furious ride will be more of a throwback to the past than a full-fledged gaming experience.

Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition had the potential to be a fun, over-the-top racer that embraced the chaos and flair from the film series it’s known for. Unfortunately, what we get instead feels like a mobile port with a coat of paint. While the car lineups and locations are a solid nod, everything else, from the controls to the sounds and visuals, feels rushed and unrefined.

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In the end, Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition is just like a trip to space in a Pontiac Fiero: a ridiculous idea that should never have seen the light of day. This game is not worth your money, neither on console nor on an arcade cabinet. Although I understand the latter since you will play this once, lose a euro or two, you turn yourself around and never look in your rearview mirror again. If Dominic Toretto asks you for this one: Ride or die? Do yourself a favor and choose the last option, and give your hard-earned money and time to a better chest on wheels.

If you stumbled across this in the arcade and dropped a few quarters for a quick race, you'd probably have a great time. But to buy this at full price to play at home, you’d probably regret that purchase. Play Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition at a real arcade, and not at home!

Again, I don’t usually comment on price, but the fact that this is currently £25 is quite baffling, the last time I picked up a game at that cost and completed it in under thirty minutes was Hyperstone Heist on the Mega Drive, but at least that had some replay value! I’d avoid this one, sadly.