Asphalt: Urban GT

"Easily forgetable"

This is one of the two racing games to be released during the 2004 holiday seasons. In this weird arcade/sim style driving game, you compete with other drivers around the world in dream cars like Ashton Martins or Jaguars (only one Japanese brand, Nissan, is represented though). While it's a decent game, it ran its course (no pun intended) for me when I went through 70% of it (that's when I acquired just about all cars I liked). With practically no use of the touch screen at all, this game will soon be forgotten as other racing games such as Need for Speed Underground DS will kick it to the curb.

Graphics: 9/10
Among the best in the DS's line up of games. The environment and car models are very detailed and bright. The sense of speed is really nice. No complaints here.

Music: 6/10
Techno and rock music. It's alright but not inspiring.

Sound: 7/10
It's okay. All the cars sound exactly the same which could turn off car enthusiasts.

Gameplay: 6/10
The player has to beat all the championships and get as many cars as possible. Tune up the cars to give them an edge against your opponents, although high performance (Lamborgini) cars cannot be tuned as much. There is no option for manual controls. Drifting is handled well and is necessary. One of my two gameplay gripes are cars that just sit in the middle of the road waiting for someone to crash into them. Driving really fast, it's almost impossible to watch out for these damn things in advance. My other gripe is that this game hardly uses the touch screen at all. This is what the DS is all about. This is what IMO gives it an edge against the PSP which has power and performance. It's a crime to not utilize touchscreen gameplay.

Overall: 6/10
The game is alright now, but I feel it will soon become mediocre. Other racing games may use the touchscreen in creative ways. Because of that, this game will be forgotten.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/27/05