Drive Buy is the latest game to be released by the UK-based indie games developer, Glitchers. They are the studio that brought us the Bafta-nominated Sea Hero Quest. Drive Buy was released on 31 March 2021 and brings a new take on the multiplayer car battle genre.
Think Amazon Delivery meets Crazy Taxi meets Mario Kart in an intense battle to make the most parcel deliveries. The game is cross-play and available on the PC, via Steam, and on the Nintendo Switch.
One Chilled Gamer has plugged many hours into the Switch version of the game and here we deliver you our Drive Buy review.
The Game
The game has a real dystopian future (or present!?) feeling to it. In this world, a certain online commerce giant, called Buy Corp, has taken over everything. The population is constantly bombarded with neon advertisements to consume and buy ever more amounts of stuff.
Additionally, I’m not sure how the Buy Corp hiring program works, but they appear to have hired a very spirited fleet of delivery drivers. In Drive Buy, players take the role of one of these delivery drivers and compete in multiplayer brawls of up to 4 people to make the most money.
To do this, all bets are off, as drivers use weapons, skill, and trickery to beat their opponents. Thankfully, I have never spotted any of my local delivery drivers pulling these moves.
Drive Buy Review: The Game Modes
At release, the game featured 3 maps along with 3 different game modes. One of my pet hates with many games is you are forced to queue for only one game mode. I was pleased to see that Drive Buy makes use of rotating game modes and maps.
Before each game starts, players vote, from a selection of 4 options on what game they want to play. The game then selects one of these at random. This really helps keep the game fresh. Additionally, none of the game modes last any longer than 6 minutes.
If you are short on time, like me, then this is a huge positive. It is very easy to just pick up the game, drop in for a couple of sessions, and then get on with whatever you need to do. This especially works great in the handheld format with the Switch.
Piggy Bank
The first game mode is Piggy Bank, where players compete to hold a Piggy Bank for the longest. The longer they hold it, the more money they accumulate. Other players can try and crash into them to steal the Piggy Bank or destroy them with weapons such as a Rocket or Ice Beam.
This almost feels a bit like capture the flag. It forces you to play the game in quite a different way from the other game modes. Use your wits to try and evade other drivers to hold on to the Piggy Bank for as long as possible.
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Delivery Battle
The second game mode is Delivery Battle. In this game mode, players have 6 minutes to pick up parcels and deliver them to locations around the map.
You get paid for each successful delivery. However, if an opponent destroys you with a weapon, they will steal 15% of the money you have accumulated.
This is probably my least favorite game mode as it feels a little passive. There is no real urgency to interact with other players, but rather avoid them, and just make your deliveries.
Pay Day
Lastly is the Pay Day game mode. If it wasn’t enough that you need to fight over deliveries, now you must fight for your pay packet! Here, there are a number of cash piles on the map that you have a limited amount of time to pick up.
You then spend the rest of the game trying to destroy your opponents and steal the money they are holding. It’s a tough gig for these drivers! This is probably my favorite game mode of the 3.
With a finite amount of money available, if your slow off the mark, you’re forced to fight your way to the top.
Progression and Customization
The game features a season progression model with players leveling with experience earned after each game played. At each new level, new customizations are unlocked for your profile.
Additionally, there are a number of tough challenges you can complete to earn credits to be spent in the game store on even more customization options. There are some really great designs for your car available, along with some fun emoji icons to taunt your opponents with.
You might even end up with some of your own ideas in the game. The developers recently confirmed a community-inspired design would be added to the game in season 2!
Drive Buy Review: The Music
Lastly, the game’s music really deserves a mention. Glitchers have gone to a lot of effort and produced a high-quality original score for the game. The music has a very retro synth electro style which feels right at home amongst the overall vibe of the game.
When I first started playing the game, the music made me instantly think of the movie Drive as I raced around the neon-lit streets of Drive Buy. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know exactly what I mean!
A nice touch is that the game notifies you whenever the track changes with the name of the new song. You can even buy the music on Steam if you really enjoy it. Right now the playlist has 10 tracks, it will be interesting to see if they add a few more in future seasons.
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Drive Buy Review: The Verdict
Before writing this review, I wanted to make sure I got plenty of game time in to do it justice. I thought this would take me a while due to being busy with other projects. However, after just a couple of games, I was hooked.
It’s not taken me long at all to get up to level 11 and unlock numerous new customizations. Although the game only has 3 maps and 3 game modes, the rotation system really gives it a lot of replayability.
Additionally, with a comprehensive leveling and reward system, there is a constant feeling of progression. Indeed, with the game making use of a season model, there will no doubt be even more customization content to unlock down the road.
The biggest downside of the game, right now, is the size of the community with many games taking place against bots. However, the developers are certainly talking the game up a lot and promising lots of new content in future seasons which will hopefully improve the player base.
Overall, Drive Buy is a hell of a ride. It is certain to give you lots of fun, especially if you can find a few friends to play with. Glitchers have set up an active Discord channel to further help getting groups of players together. We’ve also added it to our list of the best games to play over Zoom!
Let us know if you’ve checked out the game and what you thought of it. Want a game!? Drop your lobby code in the comments below π
Wow such an awesome review, really appreciate the time you’ve taken to put it together. We’re doing our absolute best to grow the community, something that I think will happen over time. Your patience is appreciated!
What an awesome idea to list is as a game to play via Zoom – we do this on our streams – but it’s definitely a cool way to experience the rivalry/madness/frustrations of shouting at your mates in the same room.
Made my day. We’ll keep you in the loop for updates for sure π
Great π Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for it next!
This game looks like so much fun! I donβt have a switch, but I may look into it on the PC π
Yeh you should definitely check it out on Steam. I saw on one of your blog posts that you were a fan of Simpson’s Road Rage, it’s not too dissimilar!
Ok awesome!