Review: Asphalt 4: Elite Racing

After all that hype, how good is it?

Well I can say… without a doubt… I’d love to get my money back. Luckily I didn’t have to pay for this game. Thanks to the generosity of Gracie B. who bought an Itunes gift card in Missouri and just emailed me the code on the back so I could do this review.

I’m truly shocked at how many sites are calling this game near perfect with all the flaws that are present.

Now let me start off by seeing this is the best looking game on the iphone, all the cars and bikes are licensed, and the music is also very well done. But that’s where the praise ends

You should expect to see graphical glitches everywhere. During a race I had some kind of helicopter approach my car and was greeted with a rainbow of graphical glitches at the top of the screen. Traffic also disappears.

There are 3 different control schemes (6 if you count both vertical and horizontal) none of which work correctly. The easiest one to use for me was the accelerometer based controls, but even those were hard to use. In order to drift with these controls you crank hard in the direction you want to turn, then turn away from the turn to maintain the drift. Seems right, but sadly isn’t. During a drift you are stuck, turning into it puts you in the wall, turning away keeps the drift going, so there isn’t a way to break out until the turn ends and you can straighten/boost out.

Next up is customization, on paper it looks great. You have Tons of areas to upgrade and not all of them for the better. Some items boost top speed but lower your acceleration or control. Doesn’t seem to bad until you remember that all the customization pieces are crammed into a space that is 25% of the screen.

Another issue is how the map is used in the game. Instead of hitting Race and being taken to a map where you can choose where and what event you want to compete in, it’s done the opposite way. You click the map button to choose where you want to go, what you want to do, then tap the Race Tab, THEN tap Race. What’s the point of that?? Just put the Race button on the Map screen and let me get on with my game!

Still not enough to steer you (see what I did there? I used a pun) away from this game?

Then listen close, Every time you exit the game the return you must go through:
The Gameloft logo screen
The Intro movie
The Asphalt 4 loading screen
The Asphalt 4 splash screen (tap to start)

The MINIMUM amount of time to get through that is 15 seconds. Every text, call, ANY time you exit, you must sit through it all again. It’s PAINFUL

Final Verdict? I won’t be touching this app until it sees an update, and even then it will be under protest

~ by vegantnt on September 5, 2008.