Entries Categorized as 'Games: Racing'
April 21, 2009
You don’t have to be a cheapskate 99-center to raise your eyebrow when you read a price tag next to a “lite” version. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before, but it’s unusual enough that it makes more than a few heads tilt to one side. Generally speaking, most people expect that if they’re going to have to pay for what amounts to a demo, it had better be a damn fine demo that might even be mistaken for a full game — especially if it’s branded. I think the folks at Artificial Life understand that though, at least to some degree,…
Posted in Games: Racing, Paid Apps 
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April 13, 2009
Now that the business of Easter has been dispensed with, I can get back to writing some reviews, and right now I’ve got something that’s been on the plate for a couple of weeks now. Here we’ve got another branded freebie, this one from Audi, who have apparently hired someone in-house to design a game for them based on a documentary about Le Mans racing, called Truth in 24.
The game — as if it needs to be mentioned — is a Le Mans racing game where you take an Audi R10 Le Mans out for a spin on the fictitious Vorsprung Raceway. (Audi…
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February 13, 2009
I can’t tell you how much time I logged playing the original Pole Position in the arcades. I really can’t — it was too damn long ago, being the early 80s and all. I do know I played it quite a lot, though, and continued to play it on the Atari 2600 and then the 8-bit Atari when I finally got into those systems. It was the seminal first-person racing game and remains the one true granddaddy of the genre.
With Namco having made a serious and successful push to bring their classic arcade IPs to the handheld market over the last few…
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November 30, 2008
I was hesitant to call this a racing game because it’s not the sort of racing game you’re undoubtedly thinking of. Ducky Derby is a race between a paddle of ducks. Rubber ducks. Rubber ducks that you don’t have any direct control over as they float down what appears to be a Venician waterway, only without the gondolas.
What you do have control over however are objects in and around the water. Your main objects of choice are rocks. You can drop them into the water by tapping where you want them to fall to try and impede the progress of the other rubber duckies. You…
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November 25, 2008
App Name: Powerboat Challenge Lite
Version: 1.0.1
Developer: Fish Labs
Category: Racing Games
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.
Powerboat Challenge takes it to the water in a fast-paced and scenic challenge through narrow rivers to win races and style points good towards upgrades to parts of your boat.
Besides the standard racing component against AI players, Powerboat Challenge offers the chance to win “style points” — though I think the usage of that term is a bit of a malapropism, since it really doesn’t have much to do with the style points you might be used to in other racing games — that is, you aren’t awarded style points for various stunt moves. Instead, you get style points for rounding one particular side of buoys that are strewn…
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November 10, 2008
App Name: Black Mamba Lite
Developer: StarByte
Category: Racing Games
How ’bout a little overhead F1 racing action? Black Mamba gives you a bit of that retro-style action in a rather slick package.
Now, I must admit I have a fondness for top-down perspective racing games. They remind me of classics like Super Sprint in the arcades, or one of my all-time 8-bit computer favourites, Rally Speedway. Thus, now that a demo of Black Mamba is available, my interest was piqued.
Thankfully, the game is played with soft translucent buttons overlaid on the screen, with left and right operated by the left thumb and acceleration with the right. I’m not a fan of accelerometer-based racing games, and while that’s certainly an option here, it defaults to digital…
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October 27, 2008
App Name: RhinoBall
Developer: AvatarLabs
Category: Racing Games
It used to be that movie tie-in games cost $40+, had no demos available, and could only hide the fact they sucked really badly just long enough to get you to buy and leave the store with it. (Now, I’m talking back in the 80s and 90s here) The full magnitude of their glowing suckitude usually hit you in the face about two minutes after loading it. Buyer’s Remorse was pretty big in those days when it came to branded software.
It’s interesting then that the product tie-ins I’m seeing on the mobile platform have generally been free. Most of them have still sucked, granted, or at least were quite firmly meh. But then there’s RhinoBall.
A tie-in for Disney’s…
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