Rating: 4/5 stars (to be confirmed)
I've been looking for good racing games for quite a while now. I found Asphalt 8, partly because everyone seems to LOVE it, and I tried it out.
I started it up and the game is, at least, more like a proper racer than some other game like CSR Racing. CSR is mainly dance-floor tapping style, as in, you have a set of 4 arrows in each direction and more arrows scroll past and you have to hit the right arrow key at the exact time it comes up to the set of arrows. CSR is mainly centred around tapping buttons at the right time. Asphalt, however, actually seems to have steering and a way to speed up, so that's at least OK.
I started the first race and all the other cars ended up zooming off in front. Though you can't blame me really because I started at the back. Personally, I don't really think the tilt-to-steer sensitivity is high enough, so to avoid hitting the sides, you practically have to turn your phone upside down and by the time you turn it back the right way up you've probably already gone too far in the other direction. I'll say that's the reason why I kept wrecking my car.
Also, one main point about the game is that there are other cars not taking part in the race driving along the road. I know it's *supposed* to add more challenge to the game so you don't crash into them, but seriously, what kind of Formula 1 racetrack has non-participating cars driving in the opposite direction to the racers? Also, I think it was a Tokyo race, I ended up crashing my car because there was a bus driving across the track. Honestly, why are there buses driving on 200mph race tracks?
The intervening cars and buses don't really ruin the game that much though. The main thing about this game is that it's mainly centred around credits which can either be earned while playing, or bought for real money. You need credits to buy and upgrade cars.
The thing I usually don't like in action games is reliance on upgrades to win races or fights. Quite a lot of the time in Asphalt the outcome of the race is decided by your upgrades. The reason I don't like it is because it doesn't add much skill to the game, and it has the potential to turn it into a pay to win game. If someone bought so many credits they could buy the best possible car immediately and upgrade it to the maximum possible, all the other players would be crushed by their spending spree.
Still, the game is quite fun in itself so I'm giving it 4 stars, subject to change.