Asphalt 8: Gaming Review ---> Guest Article

Since last year, formally reviewing iOS apps and games had become nearly pointless. However there is an exception for an app that's noteworthy enough to merit a special spotlight. Asphalt 8: Airborne ($1) is one of those exceptions, a racing game so impressive and affordable that we can't help but wonder how Gameloft will monetize it. Along with EA's Plants vs. Zombies 2, its one of several recent "premium-quality" games that can be played for almost nothing, relyin on in-app purchases from impatient players as the equivalent of donations. Although Gameloft has worked hard to advance the IOS platform with each Asphalt title, it has come a very long way since the release of Asphalt 4 Elite Racing five years ago. Twenty-eight affordable, boxy-looking licensed cars have given way to a collection of 47 incredibly detailed vehicles from top manufacturers including Tesla, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Bugatti. Largely because of special effects and more interesting locales, Asphalt 8 blows past EA’s Real Racing 3 in the graphics department, though each title has different strengths; for better and worse, Real Racing 3 is focused on realism, while Asphalt 8 is full of color, energy, and destruction. We couldn’t all say this when drudging through the comparatively technical stages in Real Racing 3.

Asphalt’s controls, which in past games were less than entirely
reliable, have become tight enough here to make lane changing, hard
drift turns, and high-speed crashes legitimately fun. Matching the
progression of other racing games, the Asphalt series has evolved from
an Outrun-style beat-the-clock racer into something more diverse,
including eight “seasons” with 180 events that vary considerably from
race to race. Some challenge you to knock as many cars as possible off
the track in a certain time period; others eliminate each lap’s
last-place car or “infected” car, and you’ll occasionally have
one-on-one matchups between two vehicles. Local and online multiplayer
modes are also included. Thanks to multi-stage turbo charging powerups
and a reduction of track-littering cash bags in favor of more traffic
to dodge—including light-flashing oncoming cars—the races are so fun
and intense that we even enjoyed losing. Combined with the solid audio
effects, the music and graphics create a truly immersive gaming
experience.

There are small issues, including the absence of a cockpit camera—you
get external third-person and vehicle-free first-person views—and a
passive in-app purchasing system that offers numerous paid unlocking
and customization opportunities, such as a ludicrous $100 “Supreme Car
Pack” that includes seven supercars. But in the grand scheme of
things, these are tiny complaints. Apart from the $1 purchase price,
Asphalt 8 needn’t cost you another dime to continue playing, and
doesn’t bug you to make purchases before every race. We only wish
there was a reasonable up-front price to unlock all of the courses,
rather than a series of seven separate season unlocking charges. That
said, gamers accustomed to playing through races one-by-one will have
no problem paying nothing to make steady progress through the seasons, getting better on their own.

Overall, Asphalt 8 is a remarkable iOS racing game: visually and
sonically fantastic, a tremendous amount of fun to play, challenging,
and diverse in unexpected ways. Despite the low price, it’s the best
driving game we’ve yet seen in the App Store, and we consider it to be
highly worth considering for any iOS gamer—mandatory for racing game
fans. Gameloft Barcelona has set a new high bar for iOS driving
excitement, and we’re anxious to see how this already superb game
evolves over the months to come.

Guest Article by Nikhil Jindal

(https://plus.google.com/114939828892354230396 )