Asphalt 3D

Visually, Asphalt has decent car models, but suffers from choppy performance, lots of pop-in, laughable animations, and tire marks that float above the road in 3D. It's as if it was made merely to look good in screen shots.

Asphalt 3D is nothing more than a checked box on the Nintendo 3DS launch lineup list. Apart from its genre there's nothing that makes it stand out in the launch library, and within its genre there's nothing that makes it unique. This game is entirely skippable unless you're desperate for a 3D arcade racer, but even then it's best to wait to see what else the 3DS has in store down the road.

It's almost a relief that the game struggling to break free from these severe technical shortcomings is mundane. [May 2011, p.104]

It is a product without identity. Put all the great racing games over the last decade together and this is what you get.

An ok racing game hides under too many big problems.

What's most frustrating is that I know Gameloft can do better than this. Hell, they have done better with Asphalt 6 and even Asphalt 5 -- mobile alternatives that are much cheaper (and more fun) for anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. In fact, just buy one of those games instead. Even if you just don't want to play Ridge Racer, Asphalt 3D isn't the better option by any stretch.

Quotation forthcoming.

Gameloft has missed the opportunity to capture the racing genre from Day One with Asphalt 3D, offering up a slowdown-riddled identikit experience that will struggle to hold many gamers' attention for the duration.

Launch titles are often rushed and not representative of what the console can really do, but Asphalt is poor even by these lowered standards. Of all the early 3DS games I've played, this one is a dead cert to be filling bargain bins in a few weeks.

Avoid this expensive abomination at all costs.

Occasionally playable, but just mostly horrible. [Issue#108, p.116]

This is the other one - the one that's quite crap. [Apr 2011, p.60]

The worst part is that Asphalt 6 on the iPhone costs $5 and looks and probably plays better than this $40 installment of the series. If you want a racing experience on the 3DS, I hear Ridge Racer is a lot better. Don't waste your time or money with Asphalt 3D.

Offering police pursuit races, takedown-focused bouts, and several other modes doesn't help Asphalt 3D's cause in the least. It's a buggy mess, and the controls are awful enough to make it a chore even when the game is functioning correctly.

The 3DS did not need two Ridge Racer style arcade racers for its launch, least of all one as badly made as this tiresome wannabe.

Truly horrible.

It's a £39.99 inferior remix of a £2.99 iPhone game with bad sound, bad graphics and shockingly slapdash collision logic. Not only is it the worst game of the 3DS' launch line-up, it's a contender for the title of 'worst launch game of all time'. Worse than Pen Pen. Worse than Tama. Worse even than Altered Beast. Do I really need to say it? Avoid.

It appears, at a glance, that Asphalt 3D is an incredibly strong launch title. Local multiplayer, plentiful maps, decent graphics, and fast-paced gameplay should all mix together into something worthwhile. It doesn't take long for everything to fall apart, though, and before long the scratches on the surface turn to full-blown gashes.

The only redeeming quality of the game is the unlockables.

A bad game was bound to be released among all the launch titles of the 3DS. Asphalt 3D, even though its seems comprehensive on paper, can't make us stick to the 3D screen. Its production values are so poor, that it seems like it's been a rushed port from previous versions on low spec hardware. If you want to race in 3D with your 3DS, for the time being, favor Ridge Racer.