Top Drives by Hutch Games is an interesting mobile game for car lovers. It’s less of a skilled racer and more of a card collector simulation. Sourcing all of its car stats from Evo Magazine and all of its images from what appears to be Google Images, Hutch has managed to include everything from a 1993 Subaru Legacy to a 2018 Audi R8. Here are my impressions.
Hardware:Â I downloaded it about a month ago on my Google Nexus 6P and it runs great. I suspect, given Top Drives’ simplicity, that it should also run fine on phones a couple generations older as well.
Gameplay: You don’t really play Tops Drives as much as you just watch it. When you enter races you are presented with five cars to compete against. Each car will be raced on a different type of circuit such as a track, a hill climb, or a drag strip. Then you sort through your collection of cars to select the perfect car to beat each opponent based on its stats.
And that’s where your contributions end. Once you hit “Go”, a cartoonish low-res circuit appears and goes through the five races for you. It’s essentially like standing above a Hot Wheels track and watching the cars do one lap.
The game then scores you by how much you won each race by until you’ve reached a grand total. Basically you either win the match or lose it. It’s pretty boring if you ask me, but luckily Hutch Games has thought of that. If you tap the screen during any of the races, it will skip to the end so you don’t have to watch it. Thanks!
Car Lineup:Â One of the biggest gripes about Forza is that they didn’t have Porsche for any games until 7. Another disappointment was Project CARS, which only had a handful of vehicles to pick from. But not Top Drives!
Since the majority of Top Drives is spent collection cars, which you obtain by purchasing or opening “card packs”, they can have nearly every car that has ever existed! And trust me, there is a lot in here; some of which I’ve never heard of. If you’re a car lover, and a pack rat, you’ll love scooping up all of the cars in this game.
I literally just opened a car pack that contained a 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe.
Reward System: You can buy car packs either with in-game cash or gold; both of which you can earn or purchase with real money. Top Drives also adds a bunch of freebies such as selecting face-down cards after a winning race, daily giveaways, experience (XP) rewards, or selling cars already in your garage. This game rewards you which is a refreshing contrast to many pay-to-win mobile games.
Menu: Another function I will commend Top Drives on is the easy to navigate menu system. When I played CSR Racing 2, half of my time was spent trying to figure out what to do. This navigation is simple to use, clearly labeled, and well designed overall.
Verdict: I like Top Drives, but as a guy approaching his thirtieth birthday (yuck!), I need a little be more from my games. If I was on a three hour flight I would have a hard time justifying playing this over reading a good book. For me, Hutch Games’ Top Drives is a simple mobile game that’s easy to pick up and, unfortunately, just as easy to put down.