I’m still a big lover of heading into the Arcades to play a game or two.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia of growing up in the scene as a boy and always thinking the arcade was the best way to see the best games in the biggest possible way, but there’s something still about stepping into an arcade, hearing the whirring noises, seeing the big flashing lights, and even hearing the clink and clank of the air hockey tables in the distance and pool tables to your right.

And it’s funny because rarely do those arcade classics you know and love always translate as well to home consoles. The obvious winning examples are the likes of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and even games like Daytona and SEGA Rally, but in a lot of cases something seems to get lost. Or, perhaps more realistically, when you get to play the same game over and over to death without spending a time, you see it’s actually quite limited and doesn’t have the substance to back it up.

One of the better, more modern recent examples of a fun arcade though, is surprisingly enough, a Fast and Furious game. Made by Raw Thrills, they of the Cruis’n Blast fame, this arcade edition of a ‘family-first’ racer that is about as cozy as sitting on a pile of hot coals but it’s full of pure adrenaline.

From zooming around the world in various action packed courses – Hong Kong to Havana – you will find yourself jumping off high ramps, vaulting between rooftops, evading incoming missiles from attack helicopters, all while looking for hidden secrets on each of the tracks.

Simply put, it’s a blast. A really fun racer that, all told, has pretty tenous links to Dom Torreto and his crew, aside from some familiar looking cars – the 1970 Dodge Charger being the most obvious – and each track having its own little mission that could be the difference in saving the world.

You’ll find yourself having to defuse a bomb, derail a train, collect some gold or destroying a drone, and the only way to actually really do that is race against all the cars on the track and come in first to ‘complete the mission’ where your car, essentially, just collides into the problem. And it’s problem solved.

The tracks have their own difficulties, with some having much tighter corners or more dangerous environments, and others being a bit more straight and narrow. But each has their own flashy, stylish svibe, with Hong Kong obviously being the neon-infested highight and Yellowstone being more mountainous and red.

And the setup is simple, you race against other cars, look for boosts along the track, use the three boosts available to you in each race – more depending on the mode and setup you go with – and can even electrify rival cars if you grab the powerup and get in close. There’s a little bit of a Mario Kart setup in that sense, but minus a lot of style, substance, and ultimately longevity.

I had an absolute fine – even fun – time with Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition, but it’s short folks. And frankly once you’ve done all the courses and done a few more laps around – unless you want to be a total completionist and finish each track with each car – you’ll find there’s not a lot left over afterwards.

Such is the nature of a true Arcade port, then, as realistically, you’ve probably got one or two goes in you before you move onto another or leave the place entirely. And so for this to be a true Arcade port, realistically, what else would anyone expect?

But even visually, this one looks a little rough on a high end system and certainly lacks the polish and shine of any of the other racers your’re already playing at home, weeks, months, even years later.

Fast doesn’t have the sauce to last you much longer than a day or two at most. You might get some longevity out of this from playing against each other, but for the price that’s probably a bit of a harder justification against the boundless competition the racer has on each respective format.

While the Fast and Furious franchise itself seems like it’s going through tumultuous times, this game won’t really change the fortunes too much. In fact, it’s surprisingly limited amount of content means you’ll likely forget about this one not long after you’ve finished – bit like the films, really – but it’s great junk food and while you’re playing it, enjoyable junk food.

And honestly, it’s about as good of a modern arcade racer as we’ve had in recent years. That alone should mean you don’t take this one off your radar entirely. But it’s definitely one of those fun sale pickups rather than something you’d dash out to buy, Vin Diesel superfans aside.

Verdict

Fast and Furious Arcade Edition is an entertaining enough cruiser that has some thrills to spare for an evening or two, especially if you’re dabbling in the multiplayer. There’s not a whole lot of substance here and beyond a few runs through with the cars, you’ll find things pretty repetitive after a while, so makes it a tougher bet for the price but for some good old fashioned racing junk food, this is as good as we’ve seen in recent years.