Reckless Racing Review
PROS
- Slick, realistic feeling transitions between racing surfaces.
- Detailed track designs. Online multiplayer.
CONS
- Only 5 tracks (5 additional tracks are 'mirrored').
VERDICT
It won't take long for most people to blast their way through Reckless Racing, but if you can get a stable connection the multiplayer is fun and the 'Delivery' mode adds some replayability too.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
The top-down racer has always been a great way to feed your motor lust when you're not quite in the mood for something more serious. Jostling your way up the pack while lazily drifting your way around large winding tracks has a strangely satisfying appeal and Reckless Racing by Electronic Arts does a great job of filling that 'not quite serious' racing category just perfectly.
Initially players are given the option of playing around with one of several control setups, either using a combination of buttons, steering wheels or automatic acceleration features to fling their vehicle around the track. These can be further customized in the options if the defaults don't tickle your fancy. The handling of each vehicle is subtly unique, but it's the tracks themselves that take the cake as each transition from dirt, mud, gravel, tarmac and sand feels spot on and mastering each surface will take time.
It's easy to get excited about the visuals and while each track seems like it's situated just down the road from the last one, the environments look luscious and small touches like watching debris being kicked around or jostled by your vehicle are great to see. Unfortunately there's only 5 tracks available (although mirrored tracks bulk that up to 10) and it doesn't take long to complete the entire set in bronze, silver or gold.
Head-to-head multiplayer is a great addition to help make up for the lack of tracks and the strange 'Delivery' mode provides some challenge, but as top-down racers go Reckless Racing is more show than tell and it'd be great to get more meaty tracks to test your skills on.
Screenshots
$0.99
Comments
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I'm using the latest 4th gen ipod Touch. I would say the game is mostly smooth but usually isn't the full 60FPS that I'm used to with most ipod games. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet. I think I see the slowdowns in your own video review..
I experienced some framerate issues with Star Battalion too.
(Was intended as a response to Andrew below.. woops)
Good review Andrew, as usual - spot on.
I do enjoy the game myself, I think they nailed the mechanics of it. Controls are spot on which makes the game a blast. Too bad there aren't more tracks and no Game Center support. As a result there are limited stat tracking (no online victories for example) nor acheivements. To the dev- add these and you've got a true gem. Multiplayer is also a lot of fun even though it isn't so smooth in most games and cars do tend to warp around. 4/5 in my book as well. Can be 5/5 if they add what I've mentioned before. Still, a good value for $3.
Wow it looks pretty cool. Just wondering, does it have bluetooth multiplayer. And if it is laggy for smag I think it would be for me to because I'm currently using a 2g. But I'm just going to buy it because I feel a bit reckless today. I'll notify if I experience any frame-rate issues.
No bluetooth multiplayer. Frame rate has been solid on my iPhone 4. Seems to run at about 25-30fps.
Maybe I'm just more sensitive than most.. "25-30fps" doesn't quite look smooth to me. I think all iphone games should be 60fps.
I got the game and played it and nup no problems for me. I would say just wait for a update smag because if its laggy for your 4g good for my 2g then it must be some sort of bug.
Good review.. though when I played it I noticed that the framerate wasn't completely smooth; there are frequent slowdowns. Did you experience this? It's not mentioned in the review..
Hmm... I didn't notice any framerate issues while testing the game out, though the multiplayer was jerky thanks to a few bad connections. What device are you using if you don't mind me asking?