Smashy Road: Wanted 2 Review

Run, but Can’t Hide from Smashy Road: Wanted 

The first thing I noticed when playing Bearbit Studio’s Smashy Road: Wanted 2 is a striking similarity in gameplay to Grand Theft Auto’s Wanted meter. If you’ve ever wanted to see how long you could run from the cops without getting caught, but without any of the other aspects of GTA, then this might be the game for you.

It begins mid-car chase, your vehicle speeding down an unknown highway while a caravan of police tail you. You must avoid capture at all costs—that is the object of the game And as far as I could tell, your only goal. But since the landscape is procedurally generated, memorizing the terrain isn’t an option. It makes survival all the more difficult.

Wanted

There isn’t much variety in Smashy Road: Wanted 2. Every level begins the same way, an unnamed character speeding down a highway. But the simplicity of the gameplay and controls make the game fun. It doesn’t require much thought. And skill is limited to tapping your thumb on the left of the screen to turn left or tapping the right screen to, well, you know the rest. That’s it.

During the process of each match, you are required to weave in and out of traffic, avoiding buildings and lakes. If your car becomes submerged in water, you must swim to dry land and hightail it on foot to another vehicle. The longer you survive, the more money you make, allowing you to purchase better cars.

Dead or Alive

While the game lacks variety, I still had a blast playing it. The overhead gameplay was smooth with no dropped frame rates, and the pixel graphics are similar to Minecraft. One major complaint was the almost constant bombardment of ads. I was frequently asked if I wanted to view an ad to earn more money. And sometimes I did it, just to make some extra cash for a new car upgrade. But more often than not, I avoided it when possible. If you can get past the annoying ads, there is fun to be had here for anyone seeking simplistic gameplay.

Smashy Road: Wanted 2 is a fun, mindless chase game that incorporates aspects of original Grand Theft Auto’s overhead mechanics. I wish there was a little more to it, but I still had a blast running from the police and dodging their advancements. It’s currently free on the Play Store, so give it a look.