I don’t have any traditional arcades near me – I think that, unfortunately, they’re a dying breed these days – but I do vaguely remember playing Fast & Furious: Arcade a couple of years ago when I was down at the coast with some friends.
I had a lot of fun, but arcade games usually offer only short bursts of gameplay. Unless you spend a lot of money and hog a machine (which everyone hates), you won’t get as much enjoyment from an arcade game as you would from a console.
From Mortal Kombat to Pac-Man, plenty of arcade games have been ported to consoles for this very reason, so I wasn’t surprised to see that Fast & Furious: Arcade was getting a console release. It is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series of consoles.
Visuals
From a visual standpoint, Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition looks pretty good. It’s bright and flashy, and each of the tracks has a unique look. There are missiles, falling trees, and jumping sharks, all of which add to the chaos on the screen, making you feel like you’ve jumped into one of the movies.
The cars look good too. There are only eight to choose from, but they’re all based on classic licensed vehicles, so if you’re a car enthusiast, you’ll probably appreciate that. They’re pretty detailed but very limited when it comes to customisation – you can choose between a few colours, but that’s it.
Gameplay
Racing games generally follow a similar gameplay formula, and Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition is no different. You accelerate, brake, steer, and boost. There are a few little tricks you can do, like wheelies and drifting, but they didn’t really add much, so I tended to avoid them. There’s not really an awful lot of skill involved either because the game is very forgiving. You can completely botch a jump, and the game will keep you on track.
The tracks themselves have a few power-ups you can pick up – extra boosts that apply themselves automatically and an electrified power-up that will knock an opponent out if you bump into them. The problem is that I was rarely close enough to another car to use it. The power-up only lasts a few seconds, and by the time I got close, it had already faded. I would have much preferred power-ups that you can choose when to activate.
The AI don’t seem to utilise these power-ups either, which was a shame. Part of the thrill of similar games is giving as good as you get. AI-controlled cars will occasionally boost, but none ever hit me with an offensive attack. I’d have liked to see some more power-ups too, both offensive and defensive.
When I first saw the trailer for this game, I got the impression that the environments were going to be more interactive than they were. Those missiles, falling trees, and sharks I mentioned earlier? I thought these would be obstacles I needed to avoid. They weren’t, which was a real shame because interactable obstacles, like the ones you see in Hot Wheels Unleashed, would have really made the game feel much more exciting.
Game Modes
There are two modes to play around with – Single and Versus – and they’re pretty self-explanatory. There’s no online multiplayer, but you can play against a friend through the local split-screen mode.
Players will find themselves racing across six tracks, two of which are easy, two of which are medium, and two of which are hard. If you complete all six of these tracks back-to-back, you unlock Extreme Mode, but if I’m being honest, I didn’t really notice much difference between that and the Normal mode.
You win by coming in first. There’s no second or third place in this game, and because it’s based on the Fast & Furious franchise, each track has a mission tied to it. These range from defusing a bomb to destroying a probe, and the way to complete these missions is to come in first place. If you complete all of the tracks with one car, you unlock the Furious version, which dramatically raises the number of nitro boosts you have from three to ten, making you pretty overpowered. Honestly, I found it hard to lose once I’d unlocked the Furious cars.
If I’m being completely honest, I found that Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition offered very little replayability. There are only six tracks to choose from, and once I’d completed them the first time, there wasn’t much to gain from playing them again aside from doing so with a different car. It’s a shame, but there’s just not that much content to play with, so I felt like I was starting to get bored after about 40 minutes or so.
Final Thoughts
Despite delivering some chaotic, fast-paced action, I think that the problem with Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition is that it’s essentially a straight console port. What works well in an arcade setting doesn’t really work at home. The gameplay is basic, and the limited content doesn’t keep you engaged for more than the occasional short burst of play. I just don’t think the price reflects that.
Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition had a lot of potential, but I think that the developers missed the mark on this occasion. I love a fast-paced, chaotic racing game, but Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition left me feeling disappointed. It just doesn’t feel like it belongs outside of a physical arcade setting in its current state. If the developers added more tracks and online multiplayer, the game would suit home play a lot better.
Developer: Cradle Games
Publisher: Game Mill
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 1/2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Release Date: 25th October 2025
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition was provided by the publisher.
