SkyDrift

At the heart of SkyDrift are three race modes: Power is standard racing with both offensive and defensive power-ups enabled; Survivor is an elimination-based variation on Power that removes whoever is in last place at timed intervals; and Speed replaces power-ups with glowing rings that provide your plane with a brief boost. These modes are scattered across the main single-player campaign, which places you in stages that get progressively harder as you advance, with new planes and paint jobs awarded along the way. All of the modes are enjoyable, but they become fairly repetitious before too long--the game would certainly benefit from having a few more race types to add to the variety. There are six tracks (plus reversed versions of each) set in different locations. The surrounding environments for each track range from the mountainous to the glacial, and they're all visually striking, with impressive levels of detail. Annoyingly, though, SkyDrift's overly saturated lighting effects can sometimes be overbearing on the visuals, making power-ups and obstacles difficult to discern against the harshly lit backdrop.

Power-ups include the usual suspects, such as mines, heat-seeking missiles, and shields. Picking up two power-ups of the same kind upgrades their effectiveness, and it's also possible to trade in stored power-ups for small doses of boost. To a similar end, you can drift behind other planes and ride lower to the ground to gain even more boost. You can also use the right stick to "knife edge" the plane so that you can weave through tight crevices and gaps that would otherwise cause you to crash instantly. Even when you do crash, though, respawns are quick enough that you don't lose much time. Because tracks are awash in sharp corners and sudden hairpin turns, the high-speed nature of the game ensures that you're considerate of your every action--when you mess up, it's usually your fault and not the game's. SkyDrift's tight controls and multitude of power-ups let you approach mid-race situations with the kind of sudden tactical initiative that can either help or hinder you, depending on the decisions you make. That said, it's a shame that none of the power-ups are particularly creative--it would have been nice to see more-expressive weaponry beyond generic rocket launchers and machine guns.


Environments range from the mountainous to the glacial.
Beyond the single-player races is lag-free online multiplayer, which is really the shining jewel of SkyDrift. While the multiplayer cannot be played locally, all of the aforementioned modes and tracks can be played with up to eight players online, and the host retains complete control over map settings and the choice of planes before races begin. Despite the competency of the AI in the single-player portion, the game becomes infinitely more enjoyable when real people are thrown into the mix. Power-ups are well balanced, and no one plane is more likely to dominate than any other, meaning that every competitor is treated fairly, regardless of skill level. A host of criteria-based badges and medals can also be earned throughout both single-player and online matches, which is a nice touch that neatly ties in to the game's achievements and trophies.

If you've ever played an arcade or kart racer before, then you have a good idea of what to expect from SkyDrift. It does nothing that hasn't been done in the past, nor does it outperform any of its contemporaries in any meaningful way. Thankfully, solid controls and a strong dependency on tactics mean that SkyDrift still manages to offer up a good amount of fun in spite of its derivative makeup, especially when played online.

Driver: Renegade

You play as series mainstay John Tanner, an ex-cop who's hired by one of New York's big political figures to rid the city's streets of crime. Doing so requires you to mercilessly drive your car around like a lunatic and bash into any enemy vehicles that try to stop you--and that's pretty much the extent of what Driver: Renegade 3DS has to offer. For the most part, the driving is solid but completely unremarkable. Individual cars (which are unlocked after completing missions) handle according to their relative stats, and also make use of a "rage bar." The bar recharges during drifts and stunts, giving you access to a temporary speed boost and the ability to destroy assailants using shunts.

Not only do the game's run-of-the-mill racing objectives fail to capitalize on the solid driving mechanics, but it also makes it easy to cheat the system and truncate the running time of an otherwise prolonged mission to much shorter periods. For instance, instead of becoming embroiled in a captivating car chase through the city streets, merely trapping an opposing car against a nearby wall and then ramming into it a few times is more than enough to meet the requirements of your objective. Boxing in an opponent may sound like a valid tactic to some, but in reality, it's just not fun; and you may even find yourself causing such incidents to happen without even trying. Even worse, similar frustrations can also befall you. Spinning out and knocking against other cars or parts of the environment rapidly drains the stability of your car, meaning that deaths are often unfair and unpredictable.

The Story mode is light on interesting exposition, and the incredibly hammy dialogue and voice acting are executed with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. Brief motion comics highlight the paper-thin narrative, and its justifications for throwing you into missions are poorly conceived. Tanner himself, who has been relatively stoic in the past, is inexplicably transformed into an archetypal tough guy who shamefully spouts a small selection of bad one-liners and puns ad nauseam. The game desperately tries to appear edgy with gratuitous swearing; and there are embarrassing attempts at titillation via the introduction of a sultry female character, but all of its efforts are awkwardly juvenile. It also takes no more than three hours to get through the story's 20 missions, although the game actually runs out of tricks by about half that length. There's a separate Career mode as well, which allows you to compete in specific events pulled from the main game, including time trials and eliminator races. However, it's essentially the same content without the shoddy narrative in between, so you won't feel much desire to carry on playing past the fleeting Story mode. While you can use StreetPass to exchange scores and records, multiplayer of any kind is a no-show--not even local play is included.


While they're nice to look at, the motion comics illustrate a poorly conceived story.
The polygonal city you ride and smash around in is a hollow and vaguely open-world map with a noticeable lack of life on the surrounding streets. Every inch of the city feels empty on a drastic scale: Traffic is extremely light and the absence of everyday citizens galloping from the path of your speeding car seems strangely at odds with the conventions of the series. It also doesn't help that everything looks so washed out and jagged. Plus, the shoddy use of stereoscopic 3D adds nothing to the visuals--it's much more comfortable to play with the slider turned all the way down. On the plus side, the soundtrack is tolerable and the menus are generally well produced; in fact, they are arguably the most impressive aspect of the entire game.

From its overwhelming repetition to its tepid attempts to be cool and irreverent, Driver: Renegade 3D is a game that fails to create an action-driving hybrid that is even remotely engaging. Its solid driving mechanics have been squandered on a game that is far too boring, and the end result is a product that feels consistently rough and flawed in every way.