Asphalt Urban GT

8.0
Great

Gameplay	8.0	"Arcade racing on the NDS"
Graphics	8.0
Sound	5.0
Value	8.0

By Morgan Bates

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The Nintendo DS is here and if you are looking for an arcade racing title, you have a choice between two games; Asphalt Urban GT and Ridge Racer, this review is focused on Asphalt. Asphalt was developed by Gameloft, a developer famous in the mobile market for their port of Splinter Cell for high-end mobile phones. Asphalt is their take on the arcade-racing genre, but does it stack up against rival Ridge Racer?

Asphalt is an arcade racer at heart, clearly inspired by titles like Burnout and Need for Speed Underground. Although it does not take full advantage of the more unique features the DS has on offer, such as voice recognition and the touch screen, it does put all of the face and shoulder buttons to good use and features some of the best graphics seen in a DS game so far. A short speed boost can be attained via the nitro packs you acquire when you fill the blue bar on the bottom right. By tapping break while pushing either left or right and you can do a 'drift'.

Drifting is essential to winning on the harder courses in this game, so mastering the art of drifting will make winning easier. Drifting also increases your supply of nitrous as well, so even when you have used up your supply, you continue to use nitro boosts. Beware of other cars though as the racers are not the only cars on the track, there are also a number of civilian vehicles and on the odd occasion, your car can get stuck behind traffic. Some civilian cars are even parked in the middle of the road posing a hazard to the racers, although you can push the break button to put it in reverse, it puts you at a big disadvantage.

Another hazard, albeit less serious, is that hitting civilian cars coming in another direction slows you down a little and because there is no reverse gear to turn you in the right direction, your car simply spins around on impact and you continue on your way. Of course, hitting a few cars will severally threaten your chances of winning. One thing that can help get you back in the race - if you run out of nitro packs - is the ramps.

Some trucks driving around the track have ramps mounted on their trailer, which you can use for some impressive jumps. Although using a ramp too close to a corner can be a bad idea too, as you will hit an invisible 'barrier'. However, on a straight you can gain some good time on your opponents. Use the ramps and drifting efficiently you can easily win the race. Winning races, earns money, money you can then spend on new cars or upgrading your current car in the evolution menu.

In the Evolution menu, you can tweak your car in the garage, play through the championship mode, while earning money for the more expensive cars and unlocking new tracks. In addition, you can purchase new cars at the car dealer. The garage has a range of upgrades you can tweak everything from the breaks to the tires. Different upgrades affect different aspects of your cars handling. You can change the cars appearance with changes to the body of the car.

The visuals in Asphalt are easily some of the best in the DS launch line-up featuring great texturing on the cars and tracks, the only exception being a few blocky patches on the sides of some bridges, although you won't really notice them much. These are great visuals for a first generation title. One of the first things noticeable when you boot up Asphalt is the short-but-sweet intro FMV (Full Motion Video). The number of cars on the road is comparable to that of console games such as the pre-underground Need for Speed games, although this isn't surprising given that the DS is faster than the PS1 and N64. The music and sound effects aren't as good as the visuals, but still work well.

The background music in races and the sound effects for engines and crash all sound great, but no matter what you are driving; all of the cars have the same sound effects no matter how big they are. You won't really notice it much when you are playing, but it does seem a bit rushed. The microphone in multiplayer games would make a great addition; letting players taunt each other over the mic would make for some fun, if anti-social wireless multiplayer.

In the multiplayer mode you can race with up to four other Asphalt players in a single or championship race, or two players can go head to head in the cop chase mode. The game requires each player to have a game card for multiplayer games, but with the DS already a big hit it should not be hard finding other gamers with this game.

Gameloft has done a nice job with Asphalt, the only exception being sound effects. Asphalt is an excellent arcade racer with top-notch visuals, fast gameplay and has set the benchmark for future arcade-racing titles on the DS. Asphalt Urban GT is serious competition for Ridge Racer DS.

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