What Drive Mad 2 Is: Martin Magni's No-Steering Physics Game

The game behind the name

The game on this site is Drive Mad by Martin Magni. Its loading screen shows the title "Drive Mad" with "Martin Magni" underneath, and its menus credit it as "A Fancade game". Fancade is Magni's platform of small games, and Drive Mad is built on the same engine. You can read more about it at fancade.com.

So why "Drive Mad 2"? The name is how many players search for this version. Inside the game files, the main 200-level pack and its add-ons are stored under the name drive_mad_2, next to separate packs for Monster Trucks, Space and Winter. We have not found an official release from Martin Magni titled "Drive Mad 2", and the game itself calls itself Drive Mad on screen, so this site does not present it as a separate sequel.

What the developer says it is

The game's own description, stored with its levels, reads: "Drive silly cars at high speeds in dangerous terrain. Oh, and you can't steer. Good luck!" That last part is the key to the whole game. There is no steering wheel. Your only inputs are forward and backward, and everything else, from tipping to bouncing to flipping, comes from the physics.

Controls we checked

• Forward: the right arrow, the up arrow and the D key all moved the truck forward in our test.
• The other direction: the left arrow. On level 2, Back Up, it is the only input you need.
• Touch and mouse: two chevron buttons sit in the bottom corners. The left one reverses and the right one drives forward. Levels that only need one direction show only that button.
• Pause: the button at the top left.
• After a crash: the run ends on a photo of the crash with a caption, and a Retry button restarts the level.

Click inside the game once before using the keyboard so the game window has focus.

What it looks like

Drive Mad is made of chunky voxel blocks, like most Fancade games. Your first vehicle is a yellow monster truck with big black tyres. The early Classic levels sit on small islands over water, and each level marks the finish with a checkered tile. Cross it and the game freezes the moment as a photo with a short caption, such as "Just do it" or "That's a wrap", before offering the next level.

Why it suits short sessions

• Each level is a single obstacle or idea, and most can be tried in seconds.
• The Levels list keeps your best time per level, so you can return to one level and improve it without replaying the rest.
• A gold time on each level gives a second goal after you have simply finished it.

Where to go next

If you want the level-by-level view, read our walkthrough of the first Classic levels and the awards tied to them. If you want to know what lies beyond Classic, our guide to the four worlds and VS mode covers Space, Winter, Monster Truck and the cup races.