Blood Drive

Blood Drive is the Carmageddon of this generation. However, this game does not have the same quality as Carmageddon once had. After a few hours of zombie-racing madness, you'll want to play another game.

Just some generic cars running over some ho-hum zombies. The controls could be tighter and no one seems to be playing online, but the game succeeds at giving you a license to run over the undead. It just isn't that exciting.

The idea that should remain is that Blood Drive is a game uninspired, boring, and that fails miserably in variety issues.

Zombie-filled races is a nice if not exactly original idea, but the developers haven't managed to turn it into an interesting game. The gameplay quickly becomes tedious, the car physics feel too light, the difficulty lacks challenge and frequent slowdowns mar the experience. If you're hurting for a Carmageddon sequel, this might sate you for a while, but it's no replacement.

Utterly rubbish, but bizarrely addictive. [March 2011, p.102]

Anyone looking for a quick car combat fix before next year's Twisted Metal might be able to waste a few hours on this title, but they won't be wholly enjoyable hours. Since you can't save in the middle of a tournament, and some the later cups last a couple hours, the game eventually tests your endurance. I'd rather give bone marrow than sit through this Blood Drive again.

Blood Drive had potential. However, there isn't enough game here to satisfy your sweet tooth. The idea of having an alternative Twisted Metal is extremely enticing, but Blood Drive can't deliver due to its shortage of modes and abandoned online mode. Unless you are really hard up for a vehicle combat game, I can't fully recommend Blood Drive.

Unfortunately, Blood Drive is both out of date and has already been done, only better. Sure, there are zombies in it, but zombies don't always equate a great game.

Some games, like Blood Drive, "don't take themselves so seriously". They should. This is a mess.

Still, it's not the worst thing on shelves right now, but its $49.99 price tag isn't doing the game any favors, either. Maybe as a deep discount title or even a digital download with some of the game's more frustrating modes stripped out (let me run over zombies for ten bucks!) Blood Drive might have been a more attractive proposition.

There is a hint of something good inside of Blood Drive, but a lengthy checklist of balance issues and aggravating events keep it from being remotely enjoyable. If Blood Drive accomplishes one thing, it's proving that zombies don't make everything better.

Blood Drive is like a radioactive element - admired from a distance, but never to be touched.

A total snooze cruise of a car combat game.

Guns, cars and zombies are apparently not enough. The lack of the all important fun factor ruins most of the fun you could have had running down zombies with your fancy muscle cars.

If the wonky controls were worked out, the game would be substantially improved right there.

At times it evokes some nostalgic memories from a generation gone, but ultimately it fails to match the standards those titles set back in their heyday.

Even the multiplayer comes up short by supporting just four players, though we assume the game would likely collapse upon itself if tasked with anything more. It's a shame to see such a sloppy effort from a stellar independent studio.

I imagine it's difficult to make a game called Blood Drive less fun than attending an actual blood drive, but, by golly, someone's done it. At least when you donate blood you get a cookie and juice at the end.

Retailing at $40, it's clear that Activision understands that this is not a AAA title but that doesn't excuse the lack of polish and content.