Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

It seems Tiny Terry might’ve been watching one too many Fast & Furious movies, given his questionable obsession with wanting to launch a car into space. But Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip couldn’t care less what I think; in fact, Tiny Terry himself would soon rather defy gravity and propel an old taxi into outer space than settle for a nine-to-five job and become a bottom-feeding corporate drone. Clearly, Terry isn’t all there, but like a moth to a flame, he’s adamant that the rolling ball of perpetual lights are the answer to all of his problems, and that the concept of a bog-standard vehicle with space travel capabilities installed in it is the ultimate solution for, well, everything. Fine, Terry — let’s do it. Let’s build a rocket car at the expense of the local taxpayers and drive it across the Milky Way for a laugh. *sigh*

Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip is a love letter to all things weird and wonderful, and as such, a real delight for anyone with a tangible interest in unorthodox design and highly illogical ideas. It’s a short collect-a-thon-type game that primarily focuses on the titular protagonist, Tiny Terry, and his undying desire to craft a rocket car that can ascend into space. It’s a little bit of Goat Simulator in that regard, in that its heavily driven towards smashing inanimate objects for the sake of it, and romping around town for modifiers and pick-me-ups for, you know, reasons. And that’s really what this is: a romp of sorts, in which your only objective is to collect items, craft vehicular components, and get on the public’s last nerve for the sake of pacifying your own relatively selfish desires. I’ll take it.

Fly Me to the Moon

Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip tasks you with a simple, if not slightly bone-headed objective: take a taxi from an junkyard, and hurl it through the ringer to boost its performance and durability—to the point of it being capable of breaking the sound barrier and projecting into the solar system. To reach such an objective and shoot for the stars, so to speak, you must tool around town as a colorful pile of gobbledygook, interact with quirky and diverse townsfolk, complete odd jobs in exchange for cash, cosmetics, and other rewards, and use specific tools such as a shovel or a glider to reach elusive points of interest. It’s a bite-sized RPG, if anything, though perhaps with fewer regions to explore than the traditional open-world phenomenon.

All in all, there’s a rough hour-long journey to work through here, though it largely depends on how you spend your time with it. For example, the primary goal is to collect junk for your car, which can be done in thirty minutes or so. However, by skipping out on extracurricular activities, like doing yoga with a bunch of egotistical neighbors, for example, you are less likely to see what the world is capable of offering on its multicolored platter. And that’s where the breadth of the charm sprouts up from: the world that orbits the overarching narrative. Like Goat Simulator, perhaps, the game rewards perseverance, and it essentially invites you to break the system in exchange for a chance to unlock something peculiar, be it a stylish hat or an eccentric mini-game.

As Deadpan as They Come

Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip has a way with words. Well, I say that as if to suggest that it’s bursting at the seams with Shakespearean dialogue and fanciful how-do-you-dos, but in reality, it’s more or less a reflection of satirical humor and deadpan jokes that, while not necessarily impactful in every aspect of the word, are pleasant enough to warrant a smirk or two. It’s that raw and oftentimes flat humor that makes Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip so darn inviting; at no point does it take itself seriously, and it makes every possible attempt to poke fun at itself, despite being the brunt of most jokes. From its gloppy characters to its bubbly environment and brash color scheme, the game is, and understandably so, a caricature of its own — and it works remarkably well.

There are some things that make very little sense in this world of abstract imagery — like cosmetics, for example. Aside from having to collect pieces of junk for your car, you can, although at the expense of your own time, collect cash to purchase items from the odd store. These aren’t mandatory items, and they don’t necessarily add anything to the story, either. For an achievement hunter, though, I suppose it would be a worthy detour, obtaining the spare items and getting all of the objects from the storefronts. Still, such an exercise wouldn’t contribute much to the cause — but neither would putting yourself into questionable poses in a yoga class, so it’s swings and roundabouts at this point, to be fair.

Verdict

If I had to compare Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip with anything other than Goat Simulator, it would have to be Frog Detective, though perhaps with an extra layer of quirkiness for, you know, obvious reasons. It’s a cute game, and one that prides itself on being silly, satirical, and outright stupid, and it doesn’t hold back on delivering offbeat one-liners and a-ha moments. It is a bit on the short side, which is my only complaint; I would’ve loved to have spent more time scooting around town and unearthing additional details or quest items. Don’t get me wrong, it contains enough hilarity and wonky camaraderie to be deemed worthy of a few hours of your time. And yet, I just wish there was more to see and do. DLC, anyone? No?

If you’re an avid fan of idiosyncratic indies and offbeat remarks, then there’s a good chance that you’ll find Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip a good spot to weigh your anchor this coming weekend. Before you take it into consideration, though, I’d recommend asking yourself whether or not you’re willing to scrape the barrel and subject yourself to the whole udder, so to speak. As I said earlier, it’s a short journey with a bite-sized world that often relies on your natural ability to explore and find things to enjoy, therefore romping through it all without taking the time to experience it in its entirety might null the sense of accomplishment.

At this point in time, you’ve little to fret about, much less decide where to throw your money. Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip wears its heart on its sleeve, and so, if the screenshots are enough to sway your vote, then you can rest assured that the full game will be more than capable of scratching that itch of yours.