Drag x Drive review — Certainly no slam dunk

When the Switch 2’s mouse functionality was unveiled to curious consumers, people were abuzz with the possibilities. Could a Mario Paint successor be in the cards? Would they prove the secret panacea for updating Kid Icarus: Uprising’s contentious controls? Turns out Nintendo had different ideas (le surprise) in Drag x Drive: a wheelchair-based basketball game where, like operating an actual wheelchair, you slide the Joy-Con controllers back and forth. An out-of-the-box concept, to be sure, but is it one that works?

In a word: Kinda? Sorta? Maybe.

Weeks later, and I’m still not sure how to feel about Nintendo’s latest experiment. On one hand, Drag x Drive isn’t as disposable as the consensus might have you think, and there’s certainly fun to be had with mastering its unusual premise in shooting hoops, navigating the court, and dodging incoming wheelchairs. Yet even for a digital-only title such as this, there’s an undeniable cloud of dissatisfaction hanging around Drag x Drive: be it the lack of content to the controls refusing to gel together, it’s hard not to want more from Switch 2’s mouse showcase.

Drag x Drive divides players into three-on-three matches (or two-on-two, should the in-game rooms – “parks” – come up short), running at three minutes as each team’s avatars in paraplegic robots (I’m assuming, anyway; it’s never quite clear) compete for the ball and score points. The mechanics mirror real-life wheelchair basketball much as they take liberties: passing, for instance, is an expected tactic; skating up a halfpipe for a dunk only to come crashing down to earth, your body falling apart like a puppet, is traditional Nintendo comedy at work.

It's the wheel mimicry that brings Drag x Drive to life, albeit not without struggle. See, Drag x Drive requires constant movement, and you’re left swiping the Joy-Cons again and again on any endurable surface. Whether it’s your coffee table, couch arms (my choice), or even your pants legs, you’ll be juggling the ins-and-outs of this strange new venture, leaving it all but certain you’ll begin your wheelchair basketball career stumbling, crashing, and failing to score a single point. Like Kirby Air Ride and Kid Icarus: Uprising before it, its mouse-based controls take some serious adjustment.

Eventually, things do click. The feedback feels great, its motion-haptics emulating the firmness of pushing wheels. With the ball whizzing past the camera, you’ll learn to turn on a dime via shoulder button or simply pull in reverse, mentally charting the ball’s path as you prep to either back up a teammate or chase down an opponent. When the time comes to shoot, you’ll simply raise an arm and thrust it forward. What starts as a fish out of water exercise gradually shifts into second-hand nature.  

Alas, it’s the advanced techniques that pull us out of “the zone”. When we literally have our hands full navigating the course, remembering which button or gesture does what can often leave players fumbling during the clutch. Even after hours of play, I still can’t get the hang of tilting and hopping – lifting a Joy-Con while holding the brake button may not sound complicated, but the game doesn’t always register the motion, causing no end of frustration as our avatar’s left helplessly frozen, wheel-up, as precious seconds tick down.

To its credit, Drag x Drive does provide incentives to master its unusual premise: for instance, there exist three different types of chairs with their respective strengths and weaknesses, so there’s room to experiment. The stadium hub’s a veritable playground, offering a variety of time trials that test the player’s expertise one by one, landing them trophies and unlockable helmets. The game even offers match reprieves with in-between mini-games, be they spring or to see who can first catch a stray bouncing ball.

All entertaining, but they’re not enough. That there’s only one stage means the experiment runs dry quickly. The time trials, while challenging, offer little more than bragging rights. The helmets are fun touches, but there’s little else to earn. A healthy supply of courts, unlockables, and side-modes could’ve gone a long way for some much-needed longevity, yet Drag x Drive insists upon minimalism to a fault, not the least in its controversial aesthetics: often lobbed with such adjectives as “sterile” or “lifeless”.

It's interesting I mention that because while the presentation’s been a common criticism since Drag x Drive’s reveal, I’m not so opposed to it. Really, not every game needs to be an explosion of color and personality ala Splatoon, and I’d like to think touches like motion-control clapping and funny helmets – or, really, just the cool robot wheelchairs – present some fun character within its grunge setting. If there was enough meat on its bones, any visual disappointments would be easily overlooked, yet such shortcomings are front and center in the face of Drag x Drive’s $20 price point.

Supposing, however, the game did provide bang for its buck, an uncomfortable question arises: would I still want to partake? While the mimicry of operating a wheelchair is certainly novel, it’s one that quickly proves demanding, with how Drag x Drive insists on mandatory motion controls, exhausting the arms not even thirty minutes into play. It’s hardly ideal for a tech demo, let alone one meant to sell Nintendo’s latest approach to control, that the biggest barrier to entry is knowing I’ll get tired playing it.

Ultimately, Drag x Drive is just a little too involved; a little too unorthodox. It’s not without merit, but while Switch 2’s mouse controls have potential – my artistic adventures with Mario Paint on NSO can attest to that much – they’re ill-equipped for more arduous ventures such as this. I’ll champion Nintendo’s approach to innovation any day, but as it stands, Drag x Drive is just, well, kind of a drag.