Asphalt 3D Review (3DS)
Submitted on: Jul 07, 2011 by Dustin Toms
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Asphalt 3D is a racing game for Nintendo’s 3DS handheld, but it’s too bad the developers did not effectively use the 3-D technology. Plus, beyond the technical shortcomings, the game is just boring.
Gameplay
Asphalt is your typical racer. You hold one button to go, push one to brake and punch another to go even faster.
As you race across different tracks in the world, you will soon realize that there is not much strategy needed to win. In fact, you could wait for cars to lap you, and you could still have a solid chance to take home the gold. Basically, the iffy AI causes the game to lose its excitement very quickly.
Terrible physics are also found in this game. We all hear about how physics can be the most important aspect of a game, especially in sports games, and in racing games it's no different. In this title, the car slides around like it's on jagged ice. When drifting, you’ll feel like the game just stops and your car keeps moving. Crashes also look horrendous, especially in the High Speed Chase game mode (don’t get too excited).
Crashes consist of your car and another car merging as one. The cars slow each other down, and then the collision ultimately causes the CPU car to lose the race and your car to still manage to pull out the win.
One reason why winning is as easy as basic arithmetic is because of the nitrous boosts and power-ups scattered across each track. The nitrous boost is set at three different levels. Hitting the right trigger will enable it to go, and if you hit it a second and third time the boost will last longer and cause your car to go even faster. All of this is based on how full your meter is, but there are power-ups around every corner so I would be shocked if you actually ran out of boost.
Presentation
What presentation? This game looks terrible. Don't be fooled by the screenshots in this review that look halfway decent because the game does not look that good while it is in motion.
I felt like I was playing a Nintendo 64 tech demo. The surroundings in each different race look like blocks. Your car looks like a block. The road looks like a flat block. Heck, I think I would have more fun going into the basement and pulling out my old set of Lincoln Logs -- at least those blocks are fun and supposed to look like crap.
The 3-D Effect
Once again the developers failed in this area. I can barely tell the difference between 3-D and 2-D in Asphalt.
If you compare the 3-D in this game to Ridge Racer 3D, (which I reviewed a while ago), then Ridge Racer blows it out of the water. The textures don’t look like anything special, and with the blocky feel of the world you’re racing in, you won’t even be able to fully enjoy the disappointing 3-D.
Game Modes
If Asphalt 3D were to succeed in any category, it would be this one. I was shocked by the amount of options available for the single-player portion of the game.
My favorite all-time racing game is Need for Speed: Most Wanted, mainly because of the free roam with cop chases. Though there is no free roam in Asphalt, you can still select an option to run from the cops in High Speed Chase.
High Speed Chase starts you out all alone with four to six cops chasing you from the start. Your goal is to not get busted a certain amount of times and cross the finish line after three laps. You can wreck the cops, but the graphics and blocky feel of the cars will turn you away from ever initiating a collision.
There is also a Vigilante mode, which is reminiscent of classic Burnout play. It’s you, enemy racers and three laps. You have to knock out a certain number of cars and finish first. It sounds a lot more fun than it actually is, but props are to be given for at least mimicking a classic portion of Burnout.
Just like any other racing game there is an Exhibition race where you do whatever you want, as well as a Career mode where you race through the ranks. There really is no need to bore you with details of the Career mode because there is simply nothing unique about it.
Final Thoughts
One thing that every game needs is potential, and Asphalt has loads of it. By appealing to the audiences of games such as NFS and Burnout, they could eventually create a great game. But this one feels rushed and not ready for the technology that the 3DS brings to the table.
Learning Curve - It's a typical pick-up-and-play racing title.
Control Scheme - Outside of the very non-complicated nitrous system, the controls are smooth.
Visuals - Graphics are possibly the worst part of the game. If I wanted to see blocks and polygons, I would have fired up the N64.
3-D Effect - Very underwhelming. It was just annoying holding the 3DS in the sweet spot for such little gratification.
Audio - It's not terrible, but you won't be blown away.
Score: 3.0 (Subpar)
Asphalt 3D is a racing game for Nintendo’s 3DS handheld, but it’s too bad the developers did not effectively use the 3-D technology. Plus, beyond the technical shortcomings, the game is just boring.
Gameplay
Asphalt is your typical racer. You hold one button to go, push one to brake and punch another to go even faster.
As you race across different tracks in the world, you will soon realize that there is not much strategy needed to win. In fact, you could wait for cars to lap you, and you could still have a solid chance to take home the gold. Basically, the iffy AI causes the game to lose its excitement very quickly.
Terrible physics are also found in this game. We all hear about how physics can be the most important aspect of a game, especially in sports games, and in racing games it's no different. In this title, the car slides around like it's on jagged ice. When drifting, you’ll feel like the game just stops and your car keeps moving. Crashes also look horrendous, especially in the High Speed Chase game mode (don’t get too excited).
Crashes consist of your car and another car merging as one. The cars slow each other down, and then the collision ultimately causes the CPU car to lose the race and your car to still manage to pull out the win.
One reason why winning is as easy as basic arithmetic is because of the nitrous boosts and power-ups scattered across each track. The nitrous boost is set at three different levels. Hitting the right trigger will enable it to go, and if you hit it a second and third time the boost will last longer and cause your car to go even faster. All of this is based on how full your meter is, but there are power-ups around every corner so I would be shocked if you actually ran out of boost.
Presentation
What presentation? This game looks terrible. Don't be fooled by the screenshots in this review that look halfway decent because the game does not look that good while it is in motion.
I felt like I was playing a Nintendo 64 tech demo. The surroundings in each different race look like blocks. Your car looks like a block. The road looks like a flat block. Heck, I think I would have more fun going into the basement and pulling out my old set of Lincoln Logs -- at least those blocks are fun and supposed to look like crap.
The 3-D Effect
Once again the developers failed in this area. I can barely tell the difference between 3-D and 2-D in Asphalt.
If you compare the 3-D in this game to Ridge Racer 3D, (which I reviewed a while ago), then Ridge Racer blows it out of the water. The textures don’t look like anything special, and with the blocky feel of the world you’re racing in, you won’t even be able to fully enjoy the disappointing 3-D.
Game Modes
If Asphalt 3D were to succeed in any category, it would be this one. I was shocked by the amount of options available for the single-player portion of the game.
My favorite all-time racing game is Need for Speed: Most Wanted, mainly because of the free roam with cop chases. Though there is no free roam in Asphalt, you can still select an option to run from the cops in High Speed Chase.
High Speed Chase starts you out all alone with four to six cops chasing you from the start. Your goal is to not get busted a certain amount of times and cross the finish line after three laps. You can wreck the cops, but the graphics and blocky feel of the cars will turn you away from ever initiating a collision.
There is also a Vigilante mode, which is reminiscent of classic Burnout play. It’s you, enemy racers and three laps. You have to knock out a certain number of cars and finish first. It sounds a lot more fun than it actually is, but props are to be given for at least mimicking a classic portion of Burnout.
Just like any other racing game there is an Exhibition race where you do whatever you want, as well as a Career mode where you race through the ranks. There really is no need to bore you with details of the Career mode because there is simply nothing unique about it.
Final Thoughts
One thing that every game needs is potential, and Asphalt has loads of it. By appealing to the audiences of games such as NFS and Burnout, they could eventually create a great game. But this one feels rushed and not ready for the technology that the 3DS brings to the table.
Learning Curve - It's a typical pick-up-and-play racing title.
Control Scheme - Outside of the very non-complicated nitrous system, the controls are smooth.
Visuals - Graphics are possibly the worst part of the game. If I wanted to see blocks and polygons, I would have fired up the N64.
3-D Effect - Very underwhelming. It was just annoying holding the 3DS in the sweet spot for such little gratification.
Audio - It's not terrible, but you won't be blown away.
Score: 3.0 (Subpar)
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