Reckless Racing, a Heart Thumping pedal-to-the-metal off-road 3D Racer

Posted Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 10:20 am by Paul Wilks Comments

Reckless Racing is a full-on pedal-to-the-metal dirt track racer that squeezes the best out of your Android device. The older and more mud-caked sibling to Reckless Getaway, Reckless Racing has been perennially popular in the Android Market and was one of the Android 10BN download sale items last year. So, if you’ve somehow missed this one, or haven’t given it a spin for a while, read on for more of a low down on one of the best racers out there.

Price: Free, $1.99

Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone

Pros

Lush graphics!Immersive sound!Array of quirky characters and vehicles!Different control methods!Plenty of tracks to try out!

Cons

Top-down aerial controls are never fully intuitive.No OpenFeint or social scoring.

Polarbit knows a thing or two about racing games on Android. With a game portfolio which includes Reckless Getaway, Raging Thunder and Wave Blazer, it’s no surprise to find the same thrills and spills in Reckless Racing. Set on a variety of muddy dirt tracks, you get to race against an eclectic mix of quirky characters and beautifully junked-up vehicles.

Controlling your vehicle is an area where you have plenty of choice. You can use the accelerometer or two types of onscreen controls. It’s very refreshing to see the choice here. With most games you get either/or, but here, depending on what you are most comfortable with, you can choose which is best for you. Whichever controls you use, I personally found it to be a bit tricky to start with. I often found myself careening into a pond or off a cliff… it happens. :/ But with some practice you get used to the native sensitivity. If you feel like it, you can adjust steering sensitivity in the game, but this still becomes a case of trial and error.

Maybe this is a personal thing, but I do find the aerial ‘top-down’ style of  racing fares quite tricky to handle. It’s all well and good when the vehicle is moving away from you, but when it’s coming towards you the controls feel counter-intuitive. I prefer the racing games where you either sit in the car itself or behind it- like in Reckless Getaway. It just means you can concentrate on navigation and not have the mental gymnastics and dexterity required to pull off high-speed turns which seem contrary to your instincts.

There are some fun characters to race with too. Choose from Cletus in his jeep, Otis in his pickup truck, Bubba in his hummer, Lurlene in her beach buggy, Floyd in his truck or Hank in his muscle car. I found Hank to be a pretty good option to start with, despite his dodgy facial hair. There are bonus characters too. These include Boss in his Cadillac and Granny… in her Monster Truck.  From what I’ve played of the game, there are at least 18 different tracks to scoot around, each with a different set of challenges.

The game features three superb modes to choose from, which really mixes up the gameplay. You have Dirt Rally: race against other characters, Hot Lap: Try and create your own records or Delivery: here you have to deliver parcels around an assortment of tracks against the clock.

Watch on Mobile

There’s no doubt that Reckless Racing is masses of fun. Speeding around a diverse collection of off-road dirt tracks, in a variety of vehicles is just brilliant. The controls take some of the enjoyment away for me, but there is a good range of options and modes to keep most gamers happy.

Once you get into it, the game gets massively addictive. There are tracks and characters to unlock so lots to work towards too. It would have been nice to see OpenFeint, but you can access online leaderboards fused to the app itself. All in all, highly engrossing and tricky to put down.

The graphics are utterly sublime, and rival even those in Reckless Getaway. For even more visual dazzling, try Reckless Racing HD- the same game but with even better graphics!

The accelerometer works well in tilt-mode, although I didn’t think it was the best of the three controls options. The sound is also superb; cool music and noisy racing sounds.

Updating...Tags: 3D, 3D Games, Android App, Android Apps, Android Game, Android Tablet Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, HD Games for Android, Polarbit, Racing, Reckless Getaway, Reckless Racing

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Posted in: heart, offroad, pedaltothemetal, Racer, Racing, Reckless, Thumping