Plow Into Other Vehicles Like You Mean It In Race Illegal: High Speed 3D
Race illegal: High Speed 3D ($0.99) by Chillingo Ltd is a racing game unlike any other. This arcade-like racer focuses on street racing. Not a great driver? No worries! This game is just for you.
Your goal is to, not only make it to the finish line, but at record speeds while destroying the other vehicles. There is definitely something satisfying about smashing into and side swiping other vehicles. And, in this game, it's what you're supposed to do.
There are five different race modes (and three difficulty levels to master), so there's really a lot to do in this game. Not to mention the customization of your vehicle.
You can choose your own avatar — either take a photo with your camera or pick one from your photo library. You can also choose your car model, color, and a decal (or no decal). You only start with a few options and must unlock the others. Then, as you win races, you will earn cash you can use to purchase these upgrades.
First, you enter the tutorial to learn the ropes. You can double tap the top middle portion of your screen to toggle your dashboard if it gets in the way. Swipe up (or tilt your iDevice forward) to activate the nitro for a quick speed boost.
You can go in reverse by holding the brake pedal down, and you can tap different things to get different views of the track, and also multiple camera views, including tapping the side view mirror to take a quick look behind you.
For whatever reason I had to complete the tutorial twice to unlock another race to play. I'm not sure why, maybe I did something wrong, but, nevertheless, it was a bit frustrating having to complete it twice.
Controlling the vehicle by tilting your device makes the game great. It actually controls very well, too, allowing you to maneuver your vehicle effortlessly. I thoroughly enjoyed how well the tilt controls worked.
If for whatever reason you don't want to use the accelerometer to control your car, you have two other options: tapping the right or left side of the screen or using a "wheel." Tap anywhere for the wheel to show up, then just turn it with your finger to control your car.
And don't forget to drift! Drifting gets you extra points too. Kind of like left/right strafing in Mario Kart — getting the sparks flying is always a plus.
My biggest qualm here? There should really be a way to actually accelerate. You are able to utilize a nitro boost every once in a while, but this isn't enough. The game would be a lot more fun if you could control how fast your car went; it just feels kind of slow right now with the automatically controlled speed.
The graphics in this game are amazing, the slow motion effects are a nice touch, and gameplay is very smooth. Plus, each race you enter, focuses on one aspect of your racing and helps you learn it and master the different abilities.
I'd say this game is good and it does offer a bit of a different take on racing (which is refreshing). If you're a big arcade racer fan, definitely snag this for the cheap sale price. Otherwise, I'm sure you'd enjoy spending your buck on a different title.
Race Illegal is on sale in the App Store for the special launch price of $0.99. It is a universal app and comes with full Game Center support.
