American Fugitive by Fallen Tree Games (Developer) and Curve Games (Publisher)

First, a word from the publisher: “Framed for your father’s murder, you’ll need to do whatever it takes to unveil the real culprit. Tackle thrilling missions for the criminal underworld – just don’t let the cops track you down!“

How I’d Describe The Game:

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) started as a top-down isometric cops-and-robbers driving game. American Fugitive could charitably be described as the spiritual successor to this style of game-play, focusing on top-down driving but with updated 3D graphics. Unlike modern GTA‘s “everything and the kitchen sink” approach (where the player can indulge in myriad activities from golf to air strikes), American Fugitive focuses solely on driving, shooting, and a touch of social commentary. With that in mind, does this game live up to the standard set by its fore-bearers? Read on to find out.

What Worked For Me:

The game included plenty of ways to get into (and subsequently out of) trouble. In my mind, the game delivered on the power fantasy of being an untouchable fugitive on the run. The “military” side missions were usually the best at this, often letting the player go ham with a tank.
The twin-stick gun-play was enjoyable, and the game offered a variety of weapons (melee, pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, mini-guns, and bazookas).
The game puts the protagonist in some wacky scenarios, from working for serial killers to beating up (adult) eagle scouts.
I played this game on PC, but a Nintendo Switch port is also available. Assuming that the Switch port is competent, it might be the better system to play on. Why? It could provide a few minutes of portable mayhem in before returning to your regularly scheduled life.

What Didn’t:

The music and sound design was generic, repetitive, and utterly forgettable. Not only did the game make regular use of the Wilhelm scream, there only seemed to be 5 or 6 music tracks. To add insult to injury, the music was inconsistent to start, only reliably kicking off at the beginning of missions.
The writing was serviceable at best. I could look past the fact none of the characters were likeable enough to root for if the game didn’t also use a bunch of other tropes (e.g. violent “hillbillies” by way of the McCoys, having very little to say despite touching on difficult topics (human trafficking, police corruption, etc), and most annoyingly: one person being the mastermind of all of the main character’s suffering). Yikes.
The game felt small. The play space was divided into three areas (Twin Lakes, Port Providence, Ridge Plains) with a a loading screen to travel between them. With all missions being restricted to a single area at a time and the areas not feeling especially distinct, it was easy for the proceedings to bleed together. It also didn’t help that the three areas didn’t feel that different from one another. Each had lots of open space for driving, felt rural, and were distinguished mostly by particular landmarks (e.g. the one with bridges, the one with a campgrounds, etc). I don’t know if this was a deliberate choice, but there was no major metropolitan area on offer. This felt like a miss to me.
The user interface (UI) felt cheap, especially while performing house raids. I get that rendering the inside of every house or business would be a huge resource drain. With that said, I find it hard to believe there wasn’t something better than a flat JPEG of the protagonist’s face and a timer (see picture below).

I encountered a game-breaking bug that prevented me from completing a late-game mission without restarting the game. The mission in question involved interacting with a handful of kegs, but for whatever reason only two of the three kegs got the memo. Restarting the mission (either by failing or using the restart menu option) didn’t fix the issue; again, only quitting out and fully restarting the game fixed the problem.
I never actually played GTA 2, so I’m not sure if this was a deliberate “throw-back” or just a function of the game’s physics engine, BUT: pretty much all of the cars controlled like boats. They were slow to accelerate, were prone to massive over- and under-steer, and were generally kind of a pain in the ass to drive. I did get better at this by the end of the game (especially since it’s one of the core elements of play), but doing so was a struggle.
(nit-pick) There were never more than two story missions available at a time. Usually, there was only one. This contributed to the world feeling small.
(nit-pick) Despite being relatively dialogue-heavy, the game includes zero voice acting. I can give the game a pass on this given its price tag ($20 USD), but it was still a disappointment.
(nit-pick) I was annoyed that the game included tool durability (e.g. crow bars, lock picks, etc that break after a few uses) as a core mechanic. Perhaps this was done in the name of “game-play balance,” but in my mind it only slowed things down without adding any real benefit.
(nit-pick) The game includes a few dialogue choices, but they never affected the outcome of a mission or interaction. In short, I absolutely do not feel motivated to replay the game to check out the options I missed.

Conclusion:

Honestly, the game never really “wow-ed” me; for the last few hours, I played more out of obligation than enjoyment. That’s the most damning thing I could say about this game, actually: I found American Fugitive terribly mediocre. Ultimately, unless you’re really in the mood for classic GTA with a shiny coat of paint you can probably skip this one.

Check it out here.