The very best racing game for the DS
User Rating: 7 | Asphalt: Urban GT DS
Gameloft is best known for creating games for mobile phones. Well, now they have created one of the first racing games to be released on the Nintendo DS. It’s a simple arcade-style racing game concept. You are given a selection, as advertised, of 25 different cars including Lamborghini, Jaguar, Hummer, Volkswagen, and Audi. Wait a minute, Hummer? Yes, even a selection of Hummers is included. There are many options for tuning your car for better performance, higher speed, and body work to name a few. Unsurprisingly, it also packs in multiplayer into the game. Winning concept? Maybe. Let’s see how this game fares in the reviewing department. Graphics One of the first things that I noticed when I first began playing Asphalt Urban GT was the surprisingly good graphics. Looking at the rest of the launch titles, there are few that can be classified as “graphically pleasing”. This game is one of them. For the power of the Nintendo DS, this game puts out some amazing graphics. The car models look superb, while the actual tracks themselves are very nice to look at. The game keeps at a very smooth and constant frame rate, with no slowdowns visible. Let’s start with the car models. As you may expect, the cars are modeled after actual cars. The models are realistic and are amazing to view on the DS’ screen. Now, the tracks are subject to some discussion. The tracks do produce some excellent visuals as far as racing on them. However, there are some “pop-up” issues that arise constantly. When driving, you may notice that certain buildings or other objects within distance will just automatically appear out of nowhere. This is only a minor complaint as far as the graphical presentation goes. Also to be noted is that you tend to see the same car quite a few times while driving. This comes as no surprise; the traffic should not really be what you are noticing. There is also the occasional “pixilated” texture here and there, but I am guessing that this is simply for compression purposes. The menus are not exactly visually appealing either. They seem a bit squeezed in and are very small for the Nintendo DS’ screens. Certain items are smaller than they should be and look a bit plain. I also found it to be a bit odd that the menus had the same background no matter where you went. I personally would have liked to see matching backgrounds that corresponded with the menu section. This is more a personal preference rather than an actual complaint. The graphics as a whole are excellent and do showcase some of the better graphical capabilities of the DS. Sound Let’s delve into the sound department of Asphalt Urban GT. The music leaves much to be desired, as there are not as many tracks to choose from. However, the tracks are diverse and at least one will appeal to your tastes while playing. They range from rocking guitars to speedy electro and fit the racing mood quite well. One thing that I would have liked to see was the inclusion of some licensed tracks. That or a more diverse selection of tracks available while racing. Now, as far as actual sound effects go, they are just plain amazing. The engines roar as they should, and the traffic drives by while angrily honking their horns at you. A few things that sort of left me bewildered were some of the actual placement of certain sounds. For example, I noticed that while I raced, a large 18-wheeler truck honked by with a simple car horn. I was expecting something along the lines of a low-toned horn that I have come to know. Also, the engines of the cars sound remarkably similar, if not exactly alike. Driving a Hummer did not sound much different than driving a small Audi TT Roadster. To be fair, the sound was great and sounded better on the Nintendo DS’ speakers. Gameplay What would you expect from an arcade-style street racer video game? As far as gameplay goes, this game delivers solid racing for its particular genre. It’s an easy to follow game. You have a selection of cars to choose from, and you, well, race them in a variety of locales. The main action is displayed in the top screen and the map is shown on the bottom screen with some menu options snuck in a small corner of the touch screen. Offered up are three different types of gameplay: Arcade, Evolution, and Multiplayer. Arcade is your average picks a car, track and go style of game. The options are Instant Play, Road Challenge, Free Race, Time Attack, and Cop Chase. Instant Play puts you in a random car and into a random track. This is ideal if you want a quick race while on the go. Road challenge lets you choose and race alongside specific vehicle types such as 4x4 SUV, Classic, and Compact Cars. However, you are not given the choice of which track you will race. Free Race is similar to Road Challenge, except you can choose which map you would like to race on. Time Attack is, as you may have guessed, a race to get the best time. You start out by first setting the track time record, then you can follow up later to beat your time. Cop Chase is an interesting part of the Arcade section of the game. You are placed in a police car (a nice and fast one, I might add) and it is your job to stop the cars from further progressing their speedy ways. When you approach a car, you must keep the car within radar. It is just simply keeping the opposing cars square within your larger square. Each car stopped gains you an additional thirty seconds, and you begin with two minutes. Interestingly, Arcade offers up some fun, if not rather ordinary, gameplay for those quick commutes. Evolution is the “story mode”, if you will, of the game itself. You can view your garage, compete in championships for money, or find cars for sale to spend your money. Your garage is where all the tuning and selling goes on. You can choose between various options for tuning, from Exhaust to Transmission to even Paint jobs. The bottom screen is used for the options and information regarding your car, while the top screen displays the vehicle. Changes in the vehicle’s performance are shown in different colors and arrows on the bottom screen as you cycle between tuning options. Besides tuning, you can display your car which will be shown on the bottom screen and can be moved around using the touch screen. Championship offers you a variety of tournaments that earn you money and an array of prizes. The tournaments are for different types of vehicles and require you to make some vehicular purchases. Car dealers show you the different vehicles that are available for purchase and their cost along with other important information such as dimensions, maximum speed, and engine type to name a few. You can also choose what color you want among the available options. Multiplayer offers you and three other players to race each other. Disappointingly though, each player is required to have a game cart of their own. It would have been better to have the single-cart multiplayer, but I guess that it was for memory saving. Now, here are my complaints. When viewing a replay of any race, the only car that shows up is your car. This is extremely awkward as you can see your car occasionally bump into invisible beings. Also, there are objects on the tracks that you can simply pass through, as if they were just hollow. Occasionally you may also find that bumping into a car will either stop you completely or spin you around 360 degrees. Those are really my only complaints towards the game, but the do greatly alter your gameplay experience. As far as controls, they are very good. You have the option to move around every button to control what you want. The gameplay of Asphalt Urban GT definitely delivers what it should, and it shows. Lifespan There isn’t much to keep you coming back to play Asphalt Urban GT once you have completed the Evolution mode. There are many things to unlock, but unlocking them begins to get tedious after a while. As far as living in your DS, this game won’t last very long. After completion, it is perfect for any quick commute that you might happen to have your DS with. It is also fun to compete against others in multiplayer mode, but it too gets a bit boring after a while. The fact is that the inclusion of a more interactive story mode would have greatly improved the game. Not to say that the game is boring. I myself like to play racing games, and I found myself occasionally opening it up and playing a quick race. Overall, though, as far as how long you will be playing it, I doubt that it will stay in your DS for very long. Other than offering quick races and multiplayer, it seems to fade away after a while. Some better playing options and more interactive stylus-oriented gameplay would have improved this game’s lifespan a bit. Summary Asphalt Urban GT is your average racing game with some impressive graphics to boot. The visuals are stunning and are amazing considering other titles that are available at launch. The sound is impressive, but leaves much to be desired. The actual gameplay offers you many options to choose from and even includes multiplayer. The game will last a while but will not stay in your Nintendo DS for very long unless you enjoy racing games or have find someone with another copy to play multiplayer with. This game is perfect for on the go and doesn’t consume much of your time as you play. While more stylus-oriented gameplay and/or better touch screen menu layouts would have dramatically improved the game itself, the game stands up pretty well. This game does not offer up any new innovations in the gameplay department, but it certainly is a great launch title.
