DriveClub
Oh, DriveClub: You could’ve been so much more, and may still end up being a solid game. However, you made a horrible first impression, like a thirty-five year-old man having his mother drive him to his first date with a beautiful girl. You also promised so much, but have yet to deliver on one of the most important ones, that being a free-to-download PlayStation Plus version of yourself. To shame.
Unfortunately for Sony and its venerable PlayStation brand, DriveClub – which was one of its flagship 2014 releases – sputtered out of the starting gate and lost a lot of well wishers along the way. Server issues plagued the game, but worst of all, the aforementioned free version never appeared during its planned release month, and still hasn’t made its way to the PlayStation Network a while later. It’s been a source of constant embarrassment for the electronics giant and its Evolution studio, and something that won’t be quickly forgotten.
At its core, DriveClub is not an awful game. In actuality, it’s half-decent, but feels both dated and lacking in both its gameplay and options departments. A recently-released weather update should help things, but it likely won’t be enough to cleanse the palettes of the many sour racing fans who’ve decided not to lend their support to the struggling new IP.
Going forward, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with DriveClub. For example, how long will it take before the free version finally makes its way to PlayStation Plus? Weeks? Months? Also, will there ever be a sequel, or will Sony ask Evolution to begin work on something else, in order to try to make gamers forget about this horrendous launch? We’ll have to wait and see.
-Chad Goodmurphy