Music Drive: Chase the Beat Review
Music Drive: Chase the Beat is an old-school arcade driving game that’s short but action-packed.
Music Drive: Chase the Beat from Salve Games and QUByte Interactive is an action-packed arcade driving game. Either chase down thieves to get back stolen tapes, or go on delivery missions to drop off the tapes you’ve recovered. There isn’t much to the game, but its responsive gameplay and retro-styled 3D graphics make it worth checking out.
You play as Tina & Tunner, a getaway driver and a gunman. As you drive, Tunner will automatically fire at enemy cars until they explode. Take too much damage, and your own car explodes, and you lose any tapes you had on you during the mission. Losing tapes is especially bad in the delivery missions, because the tapes you carry are like a wager: the more tapes you bring, the more money you’ll earn. However, losing too many tapes means you won’t have enough to cover the minimum you need for the mission, and you can find yourself grinding pursuit missions to get more.
There are a total of ten levels, each with a pursuit and delivery version, which will unlock in sequence. None of the tracks themselves is difficult to drive through; rather, the challenge lies in navigating them without getting blown up. Completing missions earns you cash, which you can use to purchase new cars and guns, and then upgrade each one incrementally. Once your car and gun are powerful enough, getting through any mission becomes trivial. Driving in the game feels great, especially with the speedier cars.
The game’s graphics are styled like a 32-bit PlayStation game, with simple models and low-resolution textures. There’s an option to turn off the pixellation for sharper visuals, but I preferred playing with the more retro, chunky graphics. Music Drive features an original soundtrack by rapper NP Vocal, which isn’t a highlight, but it does add to the experience.
I was able to get the platinum trophy in under two hours, so this isn’t a very meaty game. Even so, I had a lot of fun over those couple of hours. If you’re looking for a short, fun arcade driving experience, check out Music Drive: Chase the Beat.
Music Drive: Chase the Beat is available now on Steam, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One / Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 7/10
Played on: PS5
