Drag x Drive Releases to a (predictable) mixed rating
The newest incentive to pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 released at the end of last week and, if critic and fan reviews are anything to go by, it may be best for Nintendo to forget Drag x Drive altogether. This bizarre basketball game in which you use the Switch 2’s joycons as wheels to shoot hoops, dribble and pass to your teammates looked rough even in the game’s release trailers. It looked clunky, dull and quite boring. Unfortunately, it seems that that initial assessment was warranted.
Image by Nintendo
The game is currently sitting at a disappointing 65 on OpenCritic with only 15% of critics recommending it. Press Start summed up a lot of critic and fan consensus with their 5.5/10 review:
“Drag x Drive has some fun and unique core mechanics that take great advantage of one of the most distinctive features of the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware. But after a few matches and the novelty has worn off, A game can only be so fun until you've played all its cards, and unfortunately, Drag x Drive is not quite playing with a full deck.”
A lack of substantial content and some clunky gameplay leaves Drag x Drive in a similar position to 1-2 Switch when that launched back in 2017. It may be fun for a few hours, but it quickly becomes stale. While the gimmick of using joy cons as mice to control each wheel of your playable character is unique, it’s not one with a lot of longevity.
A 5.3 rating from players on Metacritic confirms that there’s very little reason to check out Drag x Drive unless you’re really starving for some first party Switch 2 games in the console’s opening months. If you are that kind of player, you can pick up Drag x Drive now on the Switch 2 for a price point of £16.99- although it may not have enough content to even justify that low of a price point. This is the second first party Switch 2 game that has been critically panned (the first being Welcome Tour) so hopefully we see more Donkey Kong Bananza’s as opposed to Drag x Drive’s in the console’s future.
