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
When I got my first iPod Touch some years ago, one of the first games I purchased for it was a game called Slotz Racer by Freeverse, Inc. which is a slot car racing simulator game that I was addicted to as a child and was excited to play in the electronic form.
Well now there is a new kid on the block in the form of High Tech Racing from Graffiti Entertainment. Just like Slotz Racer, High Tech Racing offers slot car racing over multiple tracks with multiple difficulty levels and a track editor that allows you to build your own creative tracks including loops, chicanes and crossovers.
Let’s start with the racing which is where any player will spend most of their time. There are three difficulty levels to choose between as you begin and playing through all of them I would have to say that while Novice is relatively easy to complete the Advanced and Pro levels will provide a real challenge requiring multiple replays to move through the different tracks.
As you complete each of the difficulty levels you will unlock additional cars and parts so before moving to the next set of tracks remember to change and upgrade your car via your garage.
The garage system is relatively basic where you can scroll through the available cars and see their respective stats and also scroll though the engines, tires and chassis that you have unlocked and also see the corresponding affect that they have on your acceleration, top speed and grip.
Before each race the layout of the track is displayed on the screen to give you a taste of what to expect. There’s no ability to zoom in or rotate the track manually though as you preview it but it does help especially to warn you of jumps, loops and other obstacles that are on the track.
Controlling your slot car is via a scroll bar on the right side of the screen, push up to apply power and slide back to reduce power. Just like real slot car racing it’s all about speed control, head into a corner too fast and you’ll find your car flipping out of its slot, accelerate too fast out of a corner and the same will happen.
The car control physics are pretty realistic down to the fact that at some points the car will jump out of its slot for no apparent reason which is both realistic and frustrating! You can also race the game from three different views. Top was my view of choice which sets the view just behind your slot car. Racer gives you a first person perspective view of the race while Perspec looks the best as it pans around the table as if taken from a helicopter it’s not practicle if you plan on winning and completing the game.
Winning a race will unlock the next race in the set and at the end of each level you’ll be able to submit you time to the online leader boards to compare your times with other players around the world. Unfortunately the only option to view your best scores is via the website so if you wish to compare your times you have to leave the app and re-launch it later.
There are a good range of tracks each with a good range of obstacles to challenge even the best slots car racer. The tracks are well presented but are rather bland in their design with little variety outside of the course design themselves.
Playing through all other 18 tracks across the 3 difficulty levels will keep you occupied for a little while and even once that’s completed you’ll be able to set about building your own.
The track builder is pretty easy to use. Available pieces are presented via a scroll bar on the left of the screen and the highlighted piece will be place on the end of the track each time you hit the build button. Again with a large amount of realism the difficulty in the track builder just like in real life, is joining the track together at the end. While you can save and play any track regardless of whether you have joined the two ends together to complete a loop if you haven’t joined them the race will be pretty short as your slot cars career off the end of the track. It would be nice if it was possible to auto-complete the track where the application would join the two ends of the track together for you.
While the track editor is fun and offers limitless track opportunities the inability to share your tracks with other players and subsequently import other players tracks limits its ultimate appeal.
There is also no multi-player option, neither locally or online, which again limits the long term appeal of High Tech Racing.
The price point of $2.99 suggests a high quality game with many options however it never really reaches those heights and ultimately left me feeling a little short-changed. If some of HTR’s failings are addressed in future updates especially a multi-player option and the ability to share tracks High Tech Racing could be a fun and challenging addition to your game collection on your iPhone/iPod Touch.
Price: $2.99 (iTunes Store)
Category: Games
Released: Jun 24, 2010
Version: 1.0
Size: 34.5 MB
Language: English
Seller: Signature Devices, Inc
© Graffiti Entertainment
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.