ASPHALT 8 AIRBORNE – Game Review

Addiction Level – Beats caffeine by a fair margin.

Asphalt by Gameloft has come a long way ever since it launched its first Asphalt for an Apple device (Asphalt 4). On August 2013, Gameloft released the latest version of its flagship game for the mobile platform, Asphalt 8 Airborne which packs in a whole lot of fun, action, drama and locations.

Asphalt 8 includes 47 selectable cars spread over 5 categories (D, C, B, A, S) and unfortunately buying them is not cheap! The game also features a brand new physics engine that adds a whole lot of intuitiveness to the game. For the 1^st time, the game includes licensed soundtrack consisting of 3 music genres – Electronic, Bass and Rock.

GAMEPLAY

Controls are pretty easy to get used to considering the game has auto acceleration, turning your device left/right to maneuver the vehicles during a race and buttons for braking/drifting and increasing your speed by stepping on the nitro. Talking of which, nitro plays an extremely important role in a race and is often the deciding factor whether you win or lose a race. Nitro can also be used to ‘knockdown’ opponents in certain cases.

As for the fun factor, the games packs in a lot of straight and curved ramps that help you to jump over obstacles, cross bridges and do a ‘barrel roll’ which form a part of in game objectives.

PROS

As for the pros, the game is extremely addictive and has a lot of content that will keep you hooked. And if that was not enough you can always go back to a race and improve your score.

The gaming engine adds that punch that a racing game is always in need of. Blur motion, smoke from tires while drifting and the environment too. Each and every detail is carefully thought of and brilliantly executed.

The soundtrack compliments the game extremely well, whether you’re racing or shuffling through the game’s menu.

CONS

Even though Asphalt 8 is compatible with iPhone 4, the graphics are extremely poor and hurt the eyes to say the least!

Talking about the game on older devices, there is a lot of lag if you try to do too many things at one time (cue drifting/nitro boost).

Everything is very expensive. Cars from all classes (groups) are not easy to purchase and to rub salt to that wound, Gameloft made sure each upgrade to every car you purchase costs a bomb!

However, these were only small niggles. The inability to skip intro videos before the start of a race is extremely annoying especially in season 1 where you have only 3 locations (Iceland, Nevada and Tokyo). After admiring the location in the first few of races, the novelty wears off and you keep saying to yourself, “Come on! Get on with the game already!”

SHOULD YOU BUY IT?

Definitely! Since Asphalt 8 is for $0.99 only, it’s worth every single penny. The expansive game content is more than enough to justify purchasing this game! Recently, the game was even available for free. So if you’re in luck you might not even have to pay for the game.

Asphalt 8 Airborne is currently paid (iOS and Android) and can be downloaded for iOS devices by clicking here. Asphalt 8 is also available on Android and can be downloaded by clicking here.