Crash Car Mania

There are truly some days you are grateful to be a games reviewer and very grateful to the developers of the fun and silly games that get made from time to time. This is one of those times.

Crash Car Mania is a very amusing game and combines a lot of entertaining challenges to keep you crashing, smashing, bashing, leaping, spinning, flipping and falling through the air. You play the part of a stunt car driver who’s challenged to jump over obstacles, flip over ramps and aim your driver through the windscreen to try and get the highest score. Armed with what appears to be an American Dodge which looks like the Dukes of Hazard car (General Lee) and not anything else, it’s down to your speed and frenzied key presses to ensure the highest score.

Controls are pretty simple in this third person view style game. Press 6 to go faster (press it repeatedly to turbo-boost), press 4 to brake, press 8 to jump, 7 or 9 to flip over ramps and 5 to launch your driver through the windscreen. If you prefer to use the d-pad, you can but I found it best to use both for maximum results.

As you progress, you are given tips on how to get the best score or perform tricks. For example you can flip your vehicle by pressing 7 or 9 but by holding the key down you can charge the flip to get better score and distance off the ramp, or by holding the eject button down, you choose the angle at which you wish to fire your driver at and should you keep pressing the fire button, you’ll spin and be rewarded by better scores as well as control your descent – meaning you will fly further.

You progress as you complete the tasks in each level, which ranges from just a couple of simple jumps to a variety of tricky combinations. In honesty, to get the best score and indeed have the most fun, you must throw your caution to the wind and put the pedal to the metal. For some levels you will have different routes to choose from, so you can cause yourself to have more simple or difficult (but more fulfilling) rides of your life.

You can play the career mode which unlocks the next levels as you progress (which can then be selected at any stage once unlocked). The training mode will allow you to practice on any unlocked level without the threat of running out of time.

The only downside to this game is that the game’s not got an unlimited level of courses, in fact there are only 19 levels, and all are quite short but they do serve their purpose to put a huge smile on your face and indeed cause you to laugh whenever you fail (rather than tossing your phone away in frustration). If you like Carmageddon, Destruction Derby and Stunt Racer then this game is certainly the kind of game you’ll love.

Rating 96%

Positives

Very amusing and silly but addictive hi-octane fuelled fun

Pretty good graphics

Challenging levels

Quite unpredictable action

You can flip the screen to landscape view should you prefer

Unlock achievements by performing stunts and tricks

You can play on any unlocked level again and again if you wish

Negatives

Only 19 levels to master but still good fun