Asphalt: Urban GT Review

• System: Nintendo DS
• Year: 2004
• Region: North America
• Developer: Gameloft
• Publisher: Gameloft

Sometimes a game will pleasantly surprise you. When my buddy Majora T sent me a stack of games for various consoles, I popped in one of them called Asphalt: Urban GT for a few minutes to snag some footage. It seemed like an okay racing game, but nothing I was in a hurry to play, so I just threw it up on the game shelf with my other DS titles. A little over a year later, I was looking for a new portable game to play, so I grabbed a stack of DS and PSP games, and ended up giving this one another shot, and I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Now, let’s get something out of the way, this isn’t the best racing game of all-time, that honor will always belong to Gran Turismo 2, but this is a pretty enjoyable arcade racer for the DS.

Something that might surprise you about this title is that it could technically be considered a mobile game. That’s because the first version was released on the Nokia N Gage, that weird taco looking phone/handheld hybrid thingamabob that makes you remove the back cover to switch games. Yeah, I can’t imagine why that thing didn’t take off. Shortly after, it was released as a launch title for the Nintendo DS. One interesting thing to note right off the bat is the stark contrast of how each version of the game is presented. The N Gage has a vertical screen orientation that is similar to many arcade games. The DS kind of has that as well, but split into 2 screens. On the N Gage, the race takes up the entire screen, but on the DS, the action stays only on the top screen, with the bottom one being used for showing where everyone is on the track.

When you start your first race, you’ll see that the game sports some really nice graphics, especially for a launch title. The visuals remind me very much of racing games on the PS1. The car models are pretty large and nicely detailed. The traffic on the other hand may not look so great when you get up close to it, but you really won’t notice unless you crash into them. All the tracks look great and have some nice scenery. The presentation during the races is also cool, especially when you catch some air from a truck or a ramp.

There are several different game modes to choose from. In the Arcade menu, you’ll find Instant Play which will randomly throw you into a race immediately. Road Challenge has events that pit you against certain types of vehicles. Free Race lets you choose any car you’ve unlocked on any track you want. Time Attack gets rid of traffic and your opponents so you can focus on getting the fastest time possible, and Cop Chase is an interesting mode that has you driving a Lamborghini police car, and you have to stop speeders by locking onto them with your radar for a few seconds. It’s a pretty challenging, yet fun gameplay mode.

The real meat of the game though lies in the Evolution Mode, which features about 30 tournaments with different race variations within them. You may have a traditional race in the first event, then have to duel another driver one on one, followed by an event where the last place driver gets eliminated at each checkpoint. There is a nice variety to the events here. Each tournament you enter will only allow certain cars, so it’s a good idea to build up your garage with as many vehicles as you can. Winning tournaments will grant you prize money, and will sometimes give you a new car. You can then take these winnings to either buy new cars, or to buy better parts for your current ride. There are several upgrades you can make like better tires, better suspension, engine enhancements, etc. One thing to note about the engine upgrades is that they don’t give you a huge boost like they would in some other games. Usually it’s only like 5 to 20 extra horsepower, which may not seem like much, but actually makes a huge difference when racing.

The driving in the game is really fun, and you’ll be drifting around corners flawlessly in no time. Each car has a boost gauge that gradually fills up as you drive around the track. Whenever this gauge gets filled up, you’ll be able to activate it to significantly increase your speed. Or you may decide to save that boost for later. You can store up to five of these. Hitting various objects on the side of the road will grant you a huge bonus to this gauge, many times giving you a full boost. One thing some people may not like is that you can pass right through light poles on the side of the road. Now this is supposed to be a fast-paced arcade racer, but I can see why not being slowed down by these would bother some folks.

I actually thought this game only had 4 tracks at first. It wasn’t until I took a look at the packaging that I realized, “Hey, there are 9 tracks. Where are the rest?” Well, they are there, however all the early events only use the first 4 tracks. Now those first four are designed really well, with each one sporting well-placed turns and having a nice fast flow to them, but even the best circuits get boring when having to be done again and again. When the latter half of the tracks finally started opening up, it was pretty exciting. It was so nice to see something different at last, it’s just too bad that many of the advanced circuits kind of suck. Well okay, it’s not that they suck, but they are not the best tracks for this driving style. Your cars naturally want to drift, which doesn’t work too well on tighter tracks with tons of corners. You’ll want to slow down quite a bit for turns, but you will most likely spend a lot of time crashing into walls.

When it comes to sound design, it’s okay. The music in the game is fairly decent, although it’s a bit generic. It may be enjoyable to listen to as you’re driving, but you’re not gonna be compelled to hop online and hunt down an OST for it. The cars each have their own engine sound. Can’t say if they are accurate to the real thing, as my Aston Martin DB9 is currently in the shop right now, but they all sound rather nice. There is also a tiny bit of voice over at the beginning and end of each race.

Asphalt: Urban GT is an enjoyable arcade racer for the DS. It may not keep you hooked for hours on end, but it is great in short bursts. If you’d like to pick this game up, complete copies of the DS version generally sell for between five to fifteen dollars. While fifteen may be a little high in my opinion, it’s definitely worth it if you can find it for ten bucks or so.

7.5 out of 10