The Fast & Furious movies are known and loved for their over-the-top pomp and insane stunt driving. It's good dumb fun, and that's the thing action games are best at. That's why it's such a surprising letdown that Fast & Furious: Showdown fails on practically every level to capture any of its cinematic brethren's frantic energy and enthusiasm for lovely destruction. This feels like the bare minimum for what it takes to be a racing game. Are there cars? Yes. Is it interactive? Yes. Is it possible to complete? Yes. Is there even the slightest modicum of entertainment to be found within its soulless shell? Absolutely not.
Here's an example of how this half-assed cash-in manages to loosely reenact the films while completely sucking the life and fun out of them: an early mission recreates the thrilling bank-vault heist from the end of Fast Five, which featured Vin Diesel and Paul Walker blazing through the streets of Rio de Janiero with a massive safe tethered behind their cars. Well, that level in Showdown replaces Diesel with Ludacris' character (apparently Diesel was smart enough to not want his likeness associated with this stinker), reduces the destructive safe to the weight of a piñata, and kills any notion of enjoyment that was contained within the film with non-existent driving physics, ridiculous collision detection, lifeless environments, and bugs around every corner.
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