First they gave us a spiritual successor to Hydro Thunder and now Specular Interactive and Raw Thrills are testing out a new racing title that leans in the Offroad Thunder direction(or as the person who made the videos below suggested, Blizzard’s Rock N’ Roll Racing) – a new arcade racer called Dirty Drivin’.
You can see the game on location test in the videos below by Youtube user Marstaurius and what we learn from it is this: It’s similar to H2Overdrive in that it uses a ranking system, a weapons system, a colorful LED attract mode, crazy tracks with large jumps and achievements. There are voiceovers to guide the player that gives the game some personality(the announcer even throws in a “Boom-shaka-laka!” at one point). Differing from their previous effort, there is a large crank on the right hand side of the seat that is used to activate one of the many weapons you can pick up on the track, it’s also used at the end of each race to spin a sort of “prize wheel”. Double-tapping the gas lets you jump (differing from other Raw Thrills racers where it gives you a little nitro boost) and when an opponent is nearby you can smash into them by turning the wheel at the right moment. There are a large number of tracks to choose from, moreso than we saw with H2Overdrive and you can unlock tracks (among other things) by using a PIN password to save your progress. At the end of each race it gives you a ranking and also shows you how others did on the same track (as well as when they set that score). You can also see an improvement graphically over H2Overdrive in terms of lighting, particle effects and environmental detail.
No word yet on when this will be released to arcades as while a location test can mean a game is coming soon, that isn’t always the case (as we saw with Terminator which was tested months before it was released). These videos are available in 720p, I recommend watching it in that resolution if your PC can handle it.
Indeed, it really looks like H2Overdrive with wheels. Might be fun!
Hydrothunder was one of my favorite racers at the time, i’ve seen h2overdrive but never played it – this looks like it has the same spirit as Hydro does. There was also a midway arcade game i got to play once called hyperdrive (??? i think thats what it was called) i don’t think it ever made it past the loc test but man it was fun – and had those huge jumps but in space…
Hyperdrive was released but didn’t sell very well as far as I know. The first arcade I worked at had a pair and it wasn’t a very good earning game although it wasn’t always in the best place in the arcade, put by the laser tag away from all of the other racing games they had. Us employees would constantly latch onto a game to compete on but even with us no one really tried Hyperdrive that often.
Hi arcadehero could you tell me if there is a new email for arcadeheroes as I sent them to shaggy and it seems they’ve not been put on arcade heros to see the cabinet
Offroad thunder is awesome and this looks so similar to it! cant wait for it. I guess this could mean the “thunder” series of racing games originally by midway is back, baby!
Also, 60HZ and arcadehero is right. I never played hyperdrive and I wish there are some cabinets left over, I seen that game on youtube and I want to try the real thing, and my MAME emulator wont run hyperdrive at perfect speed. *sigh* thanks guys, I’m glad you brought that up, I really want to play the game myself….
The song on the Dirty Drivin selection menu is More Human than Human from White Zombie
ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!! Dirty Drivin is on location test at the Hollywood Bowl in Sheffield in South Yorkshire, UK. My friend has taken a photo of the cabinet so you can see what its like. I will email the images ASAP when my friend has emailed them to me. Not sure how long its been there or when it will finish but if your in the south yorkshire area then check out the game if you want while you still can
The game has a leaver like that of a one armed bandit which you pull to launch attack items like that in mario kart. At the end you pull the leaver to stop the spinner to win somthing like a free extra game, a new track, an item for your car or a loose just like the price is right game show.
The images are now sent to shaggy ar arcades heroes 🙂
Its not too late to still give this game a try as its still on location test 🙂