"Not that bad of a game"

Asphalt is a fun little arcade themed racer to pick up if you're on the go and in need of some quick fun. There are a ton of licensed vehicles and some incredibly nice looking tracks, and at a smooth frame rate too.

The sound is nothing stellar but at least there is a bit of variety. The game has a great sense for speed too which helps add into the intensity. This game does much better at where Burnout DS did not. Hitting pedestrian vehicles, smashing opponents and cops into walls, and plenty of stationary objects to destroy, along with the fact this game is much more beautiful.

The single player mode is easy, but very repetitive. There is very little variation to the things you have to do to pass each "test" in a class. Your races revolve around the following: Normal Race, Elimination, Radar race, and Duel race. There is also no story to the main game, you're just racing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have conceived some kind of back-story to at least make the player "relate" to something.

The options for arcade races are ridiculous too. You can pick one of the 14 tracks, sure, but you can't set anything like how many laps you want, or traffic flow etc.

The multiplayer is abysmal. For a game that requires multiple carts and runs smooth in single player this games has too much "chug" and lag. There is no real sense of speed as it feels like you're racing in a mix between a stop-motion movie and a regularly recorded movie. Even worse is the fact that you don't have the extra "$" icons available in the multiplayer mode, plus no cops and no items to destroy. What's the fun in that? Even then you can't pick the number of laps or opponents. I figured it would have been exciting to do a 20 lap race at Texas Speedway but the game wasn't intended to play that way, but with the horrible frame rate who would want to do multiplayer.

The cops and robbers game in multiplayer is also incredibly difficult. You have to stay locked onto your target for "3" seconds. I quote "3" because it feels more like 10. You can't simply ram your opponent, you have to lock on.

The physics are pretty bad too. While driving a car it's not too bad driving a motorcycle is just plain obnoxious. Even if you brake you'll find yourself grinding against a wall the entire time. It's not worth losing any cash to try and knock down opponents or destroy stuff.

Graphics: 8/10

Impressive, a very nice looking game for the Nintendo DS. Not nearly as impressive as Mario Basketball.

Sound: 5/10

Nothing impressive, yet nothing too boring.

Controls: 3/10

The menus could be easier to function through and the physics certainly could use an update.

Staying Power: 6/10

Single player mode is competitive enough for awhile but the lack of variety scales it back.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/07