70 Seconds Survival Review

It’s a race against the clock in Tero Lunkka and Valkeala Software’s new racing title 70 Seconds Survival. The idea of taking a souped up car through an obstacle course sounds like a recipe for success, but this is one title that drops the ball in a miraculously bad fashion.

70 Seconds Survival Review

Unlike some of the feature-laden racers out on the market today, 70 Seconds Survival takes a brass tacks approach to its options. Players can choose from a rally car, a GT car, a crosskart, or an F1 racer, all of which use an improperly scaled image on its selection menu. From there, players can choose from one of six races (or one of five races with the crosskart), all titled “Track 1,” “Track 2,” and so on. It’s plain to see that no effort went into its design.

Get into the main game (after its 15 second loading times), and the objective is simple – get to the goal within 70 seconds. However, getting there proves to be quite the challenge. A number of twists and turns require players to navigate trees, cross bridges, go through warehouses, and dodge bombs and spikes. There is little variety between stages, with everything coming across as low poly and lacking detail. The collision detection is absolutely dreadful as well, causing each car to go to a complete stop, even when one is clearly away from the object. A health meter is in place too, so those who take enough damage will be out of the running.

This is made that much worse with the police AI racers that dot the landscape. Modeled after The Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee, these cars will stop at nothing to ram into you and ruin your day. This would be bad enough, but one clean hit is an automatic game over. This proves to be incredibly frustrating, as players barely have enough time to complete each level as it is.

Movement in the game is done with the WASD keys, with the space bar serving as a handbrake. This control scheme proves to be fairly frustrating in practice, as each car handles like a boat. It is incredibly difficult to make sharp turns – expect to make three point maneuvers Austin Powers-style or handle sections at a fairly slow pace to not screw up. Be warned that no matter what you choose, the time limit will put you at a distinct disadvantage. The handling is different between the cars, but none of them really gel in the long run. If the steering was loosened up even a little bit, things would have been a lot better in the long run.

70 Seconds Survival will test your patience in 70 second increments. Its roughshod controls and poor design make it seem more like a project car than a nitro-fueled racer that can stand toe-to-toe with the greats.

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