IAAPA is only about a week and a half away but in advance to getting our first hands-on time with brand new arcade machines like Cruis’n Blast, we’ve been able to dig up a little more info for you.
Game Engine Similar To Jurassic Park Arcade
Raw Thrills released Jurassic Park Arcade in 2015 and the graphics engine was quite the departure from titles like Supercars or Super Bikes 2. In asking Raw Thrills VP Andrew Eloff about what Cruis’n uses compared to The Fast And The Furious games, he stated:
The engine was completely redesigned from scratch. It has Jurassic Park level graphics quality, running at 1080p and a hard [locked] 60fps.This also means more bump and grind in the races compared to Fast and Furious – much more excitement, more secrets and fun!
Note that says “Jurassic Park level quality” but not that it uses the same engine.
More secrets+more hidden vehicles; Camera
You may have noticed in the first answer above that “more secrets” were mentioned. While no details were given on track secrets, one thing that players will be able to access that Cruis’n was famous for are hidden vehicles. When asked about whether or not Blast will have hidden vehicles:
You bet. They are a few steps above anything Cruis’n had…
Back when the game was on test as Cruis’n Adventure/Redline, it used a card system which allowed the player to “unlock more cars”. Where the card system was removed from the production version of the game we can assume that some of the locked vehicles will instead be accessible through either cheats or by creating a player account and accumulating points to unlock cars with.
It is worth noting that the camera/avatar feature seen in the prototype above is still present in the game. It wasn’t mentioned in the original PR so I had wondered if it had been removed like the cards. But that is another feature that will stand out from the original Cruis’n games.
A brief note on the Cruis’n Blast race tracks
I asked about the five tracks in the game and whether or not they are remasters of the original Cruis’n USA\World\Exotica tracks. Mr. Eloff stated:
No! It’s all new ground. But there are nods to the original tracks.
When asking about additional tracks being made available, perhaps as DLC:
Not yet!
I also asked about the songs and whether or not the game features more tracks with vocals – only the track played during the trailer has them.
QR Code Leaderboards
Several Raw Thrills games have features a QR Code scanning system for sharing top scores on Facebook and Twitter. Those games include Jurassic Park, Galaga Assault, Winter X Games Snocross and a few others. When I asked about any online features for Blast:
Yes, there’s our patent-pending QR code-based global high score table.
Cruis’n Blast will be playable at IAAPA 2016 about a week and a half from now and the game itself will begin shipping the first week of December.
I’m surprise no arcade game that I know of has a dedicated app that works with the game instead of using the card system (even though the card system is scrapped anyway). They would just simply have their phone or smart device scanned and then it would act as a substitute card used for saving game data and given everyone has a phone and tablet device I would’ve thought this would’ve been used by now.
Actually neon fm does use your phone just like this to log in and track you and do custom settings by scanning a qr code.
It works quite well and I think they plan to improve it more too.
I’d love to see RT add in retro tracks to Cruis’n Blast for software updates (USA/World/Exotica tracks). This increases diversity in track selection without spending much time on new tracks. That, and treat this game like Big Buck HD, adding updates in yearly (new tracks, cars, modes) to keep the game fresh (also try to add an online version where it gives you updates instantly a la Mario Kart DX). These things will make this game better in the long run, as I think the lack of tracks is the worst downside to this game (not sure anout the rest, though).
Im so excited to see crusin return to its former glory! The fast n furious games were fun, but can’t forget about crusin and how awesome it is! my only complaint is the crusin theme song, it kinda sounds pretty bad and not as good as the originals.
but overall, I can’t wait to play this game, arcade racers rule!!!
I hope there are NOT very many vocals. Your going to be paying attention to the race and what’s going on around you. Not listening to lyrics!!!
Cruis n USA did very good with some of it’s instrumentals like this song here.
Somehow the link didn’t show up. https://youtu.be/brAfJME1yO4 DeadWood Ride Arcade BGM.