The highlight of the audio package is the announcer, who seems to take pleasure in seeing the wreckage of other cars as you shunt them off the roads, cackling with glee at the carnage. The electro soundtrack here is catchy if nothing spectacular, while the sound effects consist of slightly tinny sounding engines and crashes. A lot of work has gone into creating aesthetically pleasing areas – even things like Cape Town (glorious orange skies and winding streets, Cuba (tonnes of shortcuts hidden through rooftops and parks) and Los Angeles (rainy streets mixed in with suburban neighbourhoods) come across well. What’s much more impressive is the environments themselves – again based on real-world locations, they read like a checklist of fantasy race tracks but this works perfectly for an over-the-top arcade racer. Take the juxtaposition of Rekyavik, a rural zone that has you racing across desolate ice plains and through the middle of a volcano, compared to Tokyo which is a mass of towering skyscrapers, gigantic highways and ancient shrines. They’re driven by samey-looking crash test dummy drivers but the most disappointing thing is the lack of crash physics – like Gran Turismo , they’ll just bounce off walls and never get buckled or dented, which for a game with as many crashes as Asphalt is a shame. Still, considering races often have seven other competitors on screen plus traffic and it all runs smoothly, the lack of extra details is hardly a massive disappointment (it also looks very impressive when you trigger adrenaline and the screen turns neon like something out of Tron). So starting with the cars – they’re all real vehicles that do look spot on compared to their counterparts, albeit lacking a bit of clarity up close. In a crowded launch lineup, Asphalt could do little to stand out against graphical gems like WipEout – but on its own merits, this is a colourful and mostly pretty Vita racer that’s worth a second look. I should really eliminate this section of my reviews for racing games but for now it’s staying – unsurprisingly, there’s no real story in Asphalt, just a career mode to allow you to progress from race to race earning money to buy new cars and keep competing in ever-higher-stakes competitions. An overlooked launch title that offers a solid dose of arcade combat racing fun, albeit with a budget feel throughout.
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