A new racing game has hit the App Store this week from NaturalMotion who already have the popular Backbreaker range of games under their belts.
CSR Racing for iPhone and iPad has two distinct differences from many other racing games in the App Store. Firstly, the racing in question is city street drag racing where you pot your wits against other cars of a short distance to see who can accelerate the fastest.
The second distinctive feature of CSR Racing is the fact that it is one of the first racing games to use the freemium model. This means that while it’s a free app to download there are multiple opportunities to spend your real money via in-app purchase, more of that later.
The game is possibly one of the most beautiful racing games available for iOS and that’s certainly the case in regard to the multiple vehicles in the game which pop of the screen in glorious technicolor. All the cars are customizable to allowing you to put own creative spin on your drive.
The racing is pretty simple and is more a test of timing and reactions, as there is no steering involved your focus is on changing gear at the optimum moment and using your turbo.
This may seem all rather basic but it’s actually good fun as you attempt to out sprint your generally bigger and better opponents.
Progress in CSR Racing see’s you challenge a variety of city crews as you compete against them via increasingly difficult races. To get your vehicle into a position where it can challenge the various crews you can race in other events to earn cash and gold.
It’s this use of cash and gold that can become increasingly frustrating as the balance between progress and in-app purchase is heavily balanced in the favor of the later.
Yes, you can progress through the game without spending a penny but in it’s current form it will take you a long time to earn enough money to challenge the top players not only because of the cost to upgrade and buy vehicles but also because gas is in limited supply and it can only be earned by either inviting friends to play or waiting for time to re-fill your tank.
The freemium model is clearly one that works but in CSR Racing the balance is clearly set incorrectly which causes frustration and annoyance.
From a gaming perspective CSR Racing is a success, from a monetary perspective it’s a complete failure. I would recommend taking a look but be warned that you will either need to be patient or be willing to dip your hand into your wallet on a regular basis.
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On rare occasions I will tell you to go and grab a game immediately and then come back and read this review…….this is one of those occasions and to be honest what do you have to lose when all you’ll be spending is 99 cents on a universal app that will work on both your iPhone and iPad should you be lucky enough to have both.
You may be thinking, especially if you already have Asphalt 6, why should I even spend more money on the next version of Gamelofts arcade racer and the simple answer is this, it’s Bigger, Better, Faster and there’s more of it, so much in fact this review may only scratch the surface of all the features that are packed into this racing game.
If you have played any of Gamelofts games before then you will know what to expect when it comes to sound and graphics, and in Asphalt7 Heat they continue to lead the way a rainbow of electric lights that illuminate 15 different tracks from all around the world and with a pumping soundtrack the game is a dream to both see and hear.
There are four control options to choose from so you are bound to find one that suits your driving preferences, from using the accelerometer, on screen steering wheel or the screen itself the controls work very well, and you can also choose from auto or manual acceleration depending on your preference.
The quality of the controls are highlighted due to the fact that you can jump straight into Quick Play mode and start winning races immediately. Quick Race is just the beginning though, as the Career, Online and Multiplayer modes are where the real value comes in.
The Career Mode is spread over 13 cups each with 4 different races and these include normal races, elimination, knockdown, paint job and king of the hill which all offer slightly different variations on driving as fast as you can around the streets of the world.
As you work your way through the career mode you’ll have the ability to unlock and upgrade a great range of licensed cars, from a Mini Cooper S to the Shelby GT 500, from a BMW Z4 to the Lamborghini Countach and everything in between. There are 60 cars in total so there should be something for everyone.
The cars handle as well as you would expect for an arcade racer, the game relies heavily on drifting but this is relatively easy to control, early on at least, only when you start to unlock the bigger, faster cars does it get a little trickier, by the time you unlock them though you’ll be well practised, right?
Of course you don’t have to work through the game and earn your racing stripes to unlock all the flash cars, instead you can purchase your in game dollars by spending your hard earned dollars via in-app purchase but it’s well balanced, meaning that if you are willing to put the time in you can achieve your rewards without the need of spending above and beyond the original $1 outlay.
The online options are really where the game comes to life and it does this in two ways. First up is the online multi-player where you can race against your friends, and enemies, in any combination of race types and locations. The online mode works well, the games come thick and fast and there is relatively little slow down, it adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay that will keep you playing Asphalt 7 for a long time to come, or at least until Asphalt 8 comes out!
If you don’t want to want to race against people online in real time you can choose the weekly event that makes up the Asphalt Academy and see how far up the world rankings you can get.
With the game being a universal app it’s good to see that your progress can be transferred between devices. Asphalt Tracker allows you to transfer your progress between devices using either Facebook, or Gameloft’s own servers and while this isn’t quite as seamless as iCloud syncing would be it works and prevents you having to play the game twice across all of your devices.
Asphalt Tracker also enables you to send offline challenges to your friends via Gameloft which just adds more depth to an already deep game and that’s before mentioning the goals are Gameloft’s equivalent of GameCenter Achievements.
After all this eulogizing you’d think that perhaps I didn’t have anything bad to say about the game, that’s not the case. Asphalt 7’s all about social gaming and this takes the form of Facebook integration, the problem with this is though that between races and for every earned goal you are prompted to confirm whether or not you want to publicize the achievement and if you don’t want to bombard your Facebook newsfeed with your progress it can get a little frustrating.
If you’ve got this far and have not been simultaneously downloading Asphalt 7 on your iOS device you have permission to do so now!
[rating: 5/5]What we like
What to know
We recently featured 5 of the best racing games for iPhone and talked about how Need for Speed Shift provides an unparalleled gaming experience in the racing genre on the App Store. On Tuesday EA Mobile released their latest game called Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and it is available for $4.99 (View in iTunes).
The game offers a lot of content with 24 career events, different environments and 20 stunning police cars. EA sent us a review copy of this game and after playing it for a while I can surely say that the realistic 3D graphics are very impressive and the developers have done a great job with the controls (more on that in the review).
If you enjoyed any game from the Need for Speed series for iPhone then this game is certainly worth checking out. Check back soon for a detailed review and let us know what you think in the comments section below.