Fun intense racing with limited arcade depth.
NASCAR Arcade Rush leaves the realism of NASCAR behind in favor of an arcade-style experience that brings the same energy and feel of something akin to Cruis’n’ Blast, albeit without the impressive soundtrack and larger-than-life monsters. It can certainly provide a fun few hours, but its limited modes and shallow amount of content make it a hard game to recommend at its current price.
Booting up NASCAR Arcade Rush, I was somewhat surprised at the lack of much to really tackle here. Cup Series, Quick Race, Time Attack, and its online modes, which only feature Cup Series and Quick Race, feel drastically limiting, especially with only 12 courses that can often blend together and repeat constantly through the Cup Series. While they are certainly inspired by numerous real-life courses, they are amped up to capture the feel of an arcade racer.
With NASCAR having a varied and well-known history, I was curious why many of its real-life drivers are not present in some way. Either as playable drivers or even there to talk up the game’s courses or even guide players to its content, it feels like a miss for fans of NASCAR by not bringing the best of NASCAR to the forefront.
Across its 12 tracks, you’ll drive around massive statues, burst through a ring of fire, and rip through courses that look pulled out of a cyberpunk setting. The tracks are rather enjoyable, and visually pleasing, even if the angle of the car is a bit too low to see some of the track ahead of you, often resulting in me missing boost pads or even turns, despite the yellow arrows pointing me in the proper direction. Had there been a second camera locked slightly above the car, then a lot of my issues present with its control would have been addressed.
While the arcade feel of NASCAR Arcade Rush is very serviceable, it lacks any sort of depth. There are boost pads and turbo meters to enhance your speed, but there aren’t any drifting mechanics, fast starts, or any gameplay additives to bring something special to the racing. I would have even loved to see challenges to complete during races to earn fans or something else to bring life to its pretty basic racing. This lack of depth makes each race feel tied down to the same pacing, approach, and feel.
Handling itself is as arcade as it gets with easy corning and a decent sense of speed, even if some areas of a few tracks could benefit from another boost pad. The only issue I had constantly was over shooting a few jumps when using my turbo and it bouncing my car in the opposite direction. This happened so often that I had to change how I took certain jumps and corners. It was really bizarre.
While not a game-changing mechanic, you can pull into the pit to refill your boost after each lap. Granted, it slows you down until you exit out the other side, but taking the last lap with a full boost bar can seem like an attractive idea. While yellow boost pads will hurl you ahead, they will also refill your turbo meter by a marginal amount, making them essential as you attempt to stay out on top.
One of my biggest gripes with racing games is the use of rubberbanding to artificially keep your opponents neck and neck with you. NASCAR Arcade Rush features some intense rubberbanding to keep races active. While that can often help with keeping races interesting and challenging, it feels like a bad solution instead of something that feels natural. It also prevents your skill from truly winning a race when you’ll see not a single car behind you until they magically appear alongside you during the last leg of the final lap.
As you take on each Cup Series or Single Race, you’ll earn experience and level up. This lends itself to a sense of progression where you’ll unlock customization options. While new cars and driver equipment are certainly welcomed, the majority of the unlocks are disappointing emotes to use during races. While I can often get behind a progression system that reward players as they work through the content, emote icons to use during the online mode are about the least exciting piece of content you could provide.
Speaking of online, I made over a dozen attempts to find a single match. I simply couldn’t find anyone playing this. While there are a variety of factors that may be the result of this; releasing around a packed collection of some of the best games this year, or even against the fantastic The Crew: Motorfest, it could also be the high price point for what this game offers. Currently, at the time of this writing, NASCAR Arcade Rush is $39.99 CAD on Steam as well as on the Xbox Store, showing a regular price of $49.99 CAD. Had this game been a third cheaper or even half that price, then I could easily give this game a recommendation because I believe that value works for the amount of content that is here. Right now, I’m not surprised I cannot find a single match.
Regardless, NASCAR Arcade Rush is still pretty damn fun, that much is clear. Its arcade feel works for what it is doing, but the lack of any great unlocks or modes just leaves you with not much to really take on after you have sampled each of the 12 tracks even a single time. With more depth to its racing and a more rewarding experience, then I could see a solid series out of this type of game. However, NASCAR Arcade Rush sadly comes up short, left behind by a group of much better racers, all bringing something a bit better and more worthwhile.
Developer - Team6 Game Studios. Publisher - Gamemill Entertainment. Released - September 15th, 2023. Available On - Xbox One/Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (E) - No Descriptor. Platform Reviewed - PC / Steam Deck (Ultra Settings) Review Access - A review code was provided by the PR/publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.