AiRace Speed (3DS eShop) Review

Not many people have the Ouya Android games console and not many actually want it. That said, there is a figurative ton of tunnel based racer games, they are easy to make and are somewhat impressive to look at. You aren’t going to buy an Ouya for the joy of paying for something that is barely above a Flash game however so why would you want to do it on the 3DS? If you want to get this experience for a fraction of the cost and without about a thousand system updates combined with that dead feeling of a bad decision constantly eating your soul then AiRace Speed is possible the  game for you!

The entire game concept is very simple. You play a variety of ships that exist in a series of tube based environments. You can control your ship in an almost 2D like mode, always moving forwards through the environment, speed is controlled by allowing additional acceleration to control the pace at which you want to go. You navigate the environment in which you have a bunch of different obstacles in the form of different moving shapes such as rotating rectangles and walls with various sections missing for you to slip through.

The motivation to go fast is simple, there are set time limits for you to be rewarded a medal to progress to the next tier of levels. Each level is a set path that occasionally splits into a variety of paths; this does provide the chance to implement a little bit if tactics but it never really added much to the overall impact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2XuiFoh7nbI

Try to not damage your ship too much grinding on the walls while you are at it and manage your boost level at the same time and you should do fairly well in this title. The vehicle handling is reasonable enough although can be let down by the high speeds the game demands of the player at times, it’s not sluggish but definitely doesn’t have that ‘snap’ that top tier games usually present.

I wish I could go deeper than this on the game play but that is the entire premise right there in front of you. This essentially shows you my entire problem with this title; it lacks any real aspirations to achieve anything new or exciting – To provide any meaningful depth. There are no opponents, no weapons and no real motivation to get excited for. I had to go back to through all the menus in this title just to make sure I hadn’t missed any modes potentially hidden away to my disappointment.

It’s a real shame because what is shown here is the beginnings of something potentially great, the base elements of this title are not terrible, everything is well on its way to becoming a game worth raving about. At the moment the entire title feels like a time trail section of a bigger racing/action game that doesn’t exist.

On the plus side it is all presented fairly nicely. Audio fits in as the standard yet ultimately somewhat forgettable background noise that is there to fill the gaps but not really provide a memorable experience; it’s not offensive – just not particularly amazing. The visuals are stack up better for the 3DS as the level design at least has a lot of love poured into it even if it does look a little generic by today’s standards. Everything is textured and modelled very nicely it is just used to depict some fairly bland environments at times. It moves at a fairly good pace and while the frame rate is erratic in nature it never really gets in the way of the gameplay.

The 3D effect is implemented to reasonable effect but has little effect on the overall game which is a shame since this title should have really been a good show case for the often forgotten technology on the platform. It does provide a great amount of depth on the ship you are piloting but doesn’t really contribute to the environments you are navigating.

This is going to be a shorter review than normal only because there is very little to say about this title. If there was a more complicated single player game or any form of multiplayer I might have been a little kinder on this title. What is presented is all done fairly slickly but the gameplay just lacks depth leaving an empty deserted feeling to this game.

If you are interested in briefly testing your reaction skills in a racing game then this will keep you entertained for about an hour but not much more then check this title out. Everyone else should just avoid this as it is a bit of a disappointment.

If you want to play a game of a vaguely similar style try the F-Zero game on Nintendo Land for a much more exciting experience and never EVER buy an Ouya for a tube based game like this. That will make me hit you!