Foodtruck Arena (Nintendo Switch) – The test

Foodtruck Arena, developed by Cat-astrophe Games and published by Gaming Factory, was released on July 2, 2021 on Steam and Nintendo Switch. This game is a clone of the famous game “Rocket League”, but what is it really worth? This is what we will see in this test.

Well, what is the principle of the game?

The principle of the game is extremely simple: you control a Food Truck in an ersatz football stadium and you will have to put the ball (here a tomato) at the bottom of the opposing cages. You can play 1V1 or 2V2 with 2 possible rules: have a predefined number of goals or have more goals than the opponent at the end of a given time. The game, unlike its model, is in top view, so we see the entire terrain all the time. There are also possible weather changes between each game. The possibility of choosing the curvature of the terrain also exists.

In terms of casting, you will have the choice between 8 characters, each with their own power that will allow them to reverse the situation and regain the advantage over their opponent. This can range from accelerating our truck to reversing the controls, or even freezing his opponent, rolling him on tomato sauce so that he is less precise in his turns, etc. Each power has its use and none stands out, which is an excellent point for balancing the game. You will start the game with 4 characters, but you can unlock the other 4 by finishing the tournament mode several times (equivalent to a story mode in a VS game) as well as the possibility of changing the color of your vehicle. You also have a free match mode, playable with or against a friend, where you can decide the victory conditions, the place where you play and the weather.

You also have the possibility to play with or against another person in local multi only.

I chose my character, how do we play?

That’s it, it’s game time. You are propelled onto the field, facing your opponent, the tomato between you. To control our vehicle we will use 4 buttons: one for forward, one for reverse, one for jumping and one for using our power. The handling is really easy, except that you control a truck and it feels very fast: it’s slow, and the maneuverability is very often strawberries, especially when we have to turn. The jump only serves to get back on our 4 wheels when our vehicle is lying down or on its back. Even shocks aren’t particularly impressive, except when playing ones that change a vehicle’s speed or size. Quickly forget the clockwork precision of Rocket League by kicking the ball at a precise location and speed, here the best tactic is to protect the tomato from our opponent’s ram truck.

At the field level, you will be able to play in different countries, but these are only skins that have no influence. Ditto for the weather, it has almost no impact on vehicles. Only the curvature of the terrain has a real impact.

Let’s talk about the mechanics of powers: it’s very simple, it takes care of itself and as soon as it’s ready, all you have to do is press the button when you see fit. Once used, it goes back to charging and the cycle begins again. Its use is technically unlimited as long as the match is playing.

At the technical level, where are we?

In terms of graphics, the drivers are quite nice, but once in a match, their trucks look quite rough. The stadium itself is clean at this level too. The menus are very poor on the other hand. Generally speaking, we are on something average in play.

Now let’s move on to the soundtrack, not much to say except that we have the impression of hearing fairly generic and all-purpose music. The sound effects are well proportioned overall.

The game runs very well on Switch, we haven’t noticed any major slowdowns or bugs that taint the gaming experience.

In terms of language, the game is available in French and the translation is 99% well done, the only problem is in the results menu where the translation with Google is felt.