Pacific Drive Review

Cars are inanimate objects, but the more you drive a particular car, the closer, shall we say, your relationship with it becomes. Some drivers give cars a name based on some visual features (color, shape and so on), they criticize them for frequent breakdowns, but you can't find a more reliable companion on the road. Every car has an invisible soul, and the authors of Pacific Drive definitely know about it. The peculiarity of this post-apocalyptic survival is how perfectly the title conveys the connection between the car and the driver.

The game is set on the Olympic Peninsula in North America in 1998, decades after the government created the Olympic Exclusion Zone. Sealed off from the rest of the world, it was once home to talented scientists, but experiments got out of control, leaving the entire region exposed to radiation and other, much stranger threats. It is to this ever-changing, uninhabitable place that you are sent. And the only thing that can provide any sort of protection is a mysterious, crumbling, ancient station wagon.

Fortunately, in the stability zone you can find a garage belonging to a certain Oppie, a brilliant but tormented scientist, who reluctantly helps you with radio communication. This is where you can fix your car, make upgrades and plan your next foray into the exclusion zone. This is the main loop of the game; there are small roguelike inserts to add an element of surprise. You then drive through a series of junctions, collect resources, complete objectives, return to a safe place (garage) and use materials to upgrade your car and continue exploring the alienation zone.

The gameplay is set up great. Maintaining and improving the car in particular gives a great sense of progression. Every door, panel, wheel, and even the engine can be improved or replaced with something better, but you won't do it as quickly. It all depends on what resources you managed to get on your last outing, as well as the need to repair existing parts. The game balances perfectly - you probably won't have enough materials for everything, so you'll have to make do with what you have. Luckily, a friendly dumpster will offer you some useful materials when needed, and there's always a wrecked car in the garage that you can cut into pieces to get basic materials.

When you're ready, you'll use the map of the randomly generated zone to plot your course. As you set off, you must constantly monitor your surroundings - not only to look for buildings containing valuable materials, but also to spot anomalies that can interfere with and jeopardize your path. Anomalies come in many forms. Tourists are those annoying mannequins that sometimes move if you don't look at them. If they touch you, there's an explosion. The can opener is a buzz saw that cuts through the ground and can damage your car's tires. If the Kidnapper notices your station wagon, he will grab onto it and drag it behind him, trying to hit rocks or drive it into other anomalies. The zone has an eerie atmosphere, and its unpredictability gives it a real sense of danger.

As you move deeper into the zone, the situation becomes more insidious, but of course, thanks to the constantly unlocked upgrades, you'll be able to deal with it. Wherever you find yourself, your ticket to safety is to search for Anchors. They contain the energy needed to summon a portal back to the garage, but they also cause a dangerous storm that gradually spreads across the map. You should grab as many Anchors as possible, because this is the energy you need to unlock important upgrades. Expanded vaults, better parts for cars, new survival tools, expansions for cars on which you can bolt on even more equipment. There are plenty of ways to make your life easier in the game. However, to get them you'll need certain materials, Anchor energy, and possibly scanning certain anomalies.

In fact, the game's granularity sometimes gets in the way of enjoyment. On the one hand, transforming a car piece by piece from a dilapidated wreck to a monster similar to what happened in Mad Max and gradually unlocking valuable upgrades is a deeply satisfying process. On the other hand, scanning every anomaly and item you find, being unsure of where to find certain resources, and navigating the cumbersome menus and interface. Pacific Drive is a complex and multi-layered survival that can take dozens of hours to complete, which isn't a bad thing, especially considering that the story offers an intriguing context that keeps you in suspense from start to finish.

The user interface is generally quite complex (and full of small text). Banal selection of a single item triggers many interactions. For example, if you look at the driver's door, you can press R1 to get into the driver's seat; hold down R1 to simply open or close the door; hold down the "triangle" to remove the door from the car (and hold down R2 to put it back in place); press L1 to learn about its status; hold down the touchpad to see a log entry. Basically, it takes some getting used to. Even driving a car, you have to turn the ignition key, then move the transmission knob to Drive, and only then will the car shift. Since the ignition switch and the knob are close together, you're likely to get confused when doing this process. All of this helps immerse you in the game, but overall the controls can feel cumbersome.

Another thing that plays against Pacific Drive is its technical specs. We love the stylized, soft-textured look of the game, but on the PS5 the frame rate leaves a lot to be desired. At times it seems to reach what seems like 60fps, but more often than not it's noticeably lower. In addition, loading screens appear when moving between locations; while they don't take too much time, they look kind of ridiculous in times of fast loading. The game is far from unplayable, but its operation is not smooth either.

Despite the shortcomings, the game, like the car, is bound to become something special for you. When you get used to its quirks and subtleties, you'll be faced with a complex but fascinating survival action game with individual strong features. Keeping a barely running car running while you're plunged into a deadly environment seems like a very attractive bait.