Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! by BRAVO GAMES is a top down (well sort of) micro racing game now available in the App Store for $1.99. It is surprisingly fun, despite its somewhat sub par branding (name, icon) and presentation. On the flip-side though it’s not very impressive. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot of potential here, but Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! (wow what a mouth full)  doesn’t really bring anything new to the table, or even attempts to spice up the micro racing (borderline physics management, if you ask me) gameplay. However don’t take my word for it, why not give the lite version a spin and see for yourself! As always if you do give the lite a try, don’t hesitate to sound off with your impressions in the comment section below.

Noteworthy Features:

• OpenFeint integration.
• Lots of content.
• Good controls.

Major Complaint:

• Small tracks that are hard to navigate.

The first thing you will notice after launching the game for the first time, is that you are dropped seamlessly right into the game’s tutorial mere seconds after launching. The tutorial itself is very well done, even though the gameplay of the tutorial is completely different from the core racing game modes. It’s more of a driving platformer, which is actually very fun and does a good job teaching you the controls by force feeding you the learning curve in an attempt to get you up to speed and ready to go right before the game drops you into an extremely challenging racing experience (more on that in a bit).

Another issue with the tutorial is that you can’t skip it. I think it should go without saying that giving gamers the option to skip a tutorial is more or less a necessity in all modern games, less you want to be flamed on forums across the web. I of course understand where the developers are coming from here, as in this case you almost need to run through the tutorial (multiple times) and master the controls first and foremost before even attempting to race, as doing so prematurely will result in consistent losses and most likely frustration.

Aside from that, I found the gameplay of the tutorial worthy enough (as in lots of fun) to be an additional core game mode (believe it or not). It can of course be replayed but and I found myself craving for more tutorial levels which are almost like open driving platformer levels, more so then actually wanting to race during my first few minutes with the game.

Gameplay

With that said, lets drive right into what this game has to offer in terms of racing gameplay, as it is primarily a top down (sort of)  micro-racing game… after all. As I stated above the racing in Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! is most definitely challenging. It’s a combination of factors really; one being game design and the other the controls (which come with a bit of a learning curve).

It seems that the developers decided to go the route of taxing your skill of precision, which is odd considering you can’t really control your speed efficiently other then hitting the nitro to go faster, which is great but not very useful considering the tracks (especially the very first one) are typically small and tightly packed with hairpin turns, requiring a firm grasp of the controls and finesse to navigate (or set on beginner difficulty level with auto speed enabled). The issues I had were not so much a difficulty issue with the AI, mostly had trouble just navigating the tracks because they’re designed in a way where you can run right over the small walls and find yourself inadvertently going the opposite direction or trying to roll over these walls to cheat so to speak – needless to say you will be resetting a lot during the first few races. Interestingly, for me it wasn’t really a result of bad controls that make the tracks hard to navigate. Sure there is definitely a learning curve to contend with, but it’s more a result of the actual design of the tracks, then it is an issue with the poor controls. In fact I found the controls to be very well done (but more on that later).

In Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! there are two racing game modes; a Tournament mode and a Time Trial mode (you can also replay the Tutorial as well). The Time Trial mode is the typical solo run through a track that lets you get a feel for it without the pressure of a real race. In the Tournament mode you progress from one track to the another unlocking new tracks (regardless of your finishing position) as you go. However in order to unlock new cars you will need to get some good finishing positions, preferably first place.

There are 3 difficulty levels included to make getting that “pole position” more challenging or less challenging depending on how you feel. Although to progress and unlock each track you just need to finish the race, not necessarily finish in the top three or number one position. I suggest first starting with the beginner difficulty level the game will play nicely and more or less control the speed for you where all you have to do is turn and initiate collected nitro boosts. However in higher difficulties (unlock better cars) this auto speed functionality gets removed and its all up to you and how well you know the controls.

Presentation

I’m not going to lie the presentation of Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! is pretty sub par. It’s got a very long and somewhat lame name, plus the icon isn’t overflowing with “eye candy” status either. Not to mention that the art style isn’t particularly stunning, nor impressive, but all and all the graphics and sound effects are decent enough and hold up well during gameplay.

Controls

The controls of Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! are much different from conventional control interfaces that we have seen on the device so far, especially for racing games. In that the controls are swipe/gesture based rather then leveraging on screen buttons or the accelerometer. Instead the game uses swipes, meaning swipe on the screen anywhere and your little virtual remote control car will turn in that direction. This of course comes with a bit learning curve, but once you get the hang of the controls (aside from controlling your speed) on beginner level you should be able to win a few races here and there.

My only issue with the controls is the activation of nitro, which requires you put both fingers on the screen. It’s nice to not have to hit a button, but during some intense races having to navigate through some hairpin turns, switching off from one thumb to another I found myself accidentally activating nitro burst more then I would like to admit, and found myself sticking to just one thumb to swipe and control the vehicle instead of switching off back and forth.

Other then that the controls work great with the perspective and the scale used in this game.  Overall I would say the controls work decent, may need a bit of refinement here and there, but I never really found myself hung up on the controls.

Price

The price for Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! is $1.99 (at the time of this review), which seems reasonable to me. Although from a presentation perspective a $0.99 cent price would feel more fitting given the perceived quality some may get, but in terms of gameplay and graphics, not to mention the amount of tracks and unlockable vehicles included in the game a $1.99 price point does not seem like its asking too much, especially when considering the merit of the game as a whole.

Score 3/5

All in all Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! is a decent micro racing game, that could use a bit of a face-lift, as in some more visual polish,  and a better name, icon and branding perhaps… It also wouldn’t hurt to have more open, easier and  larger tracks to race on either, maybe even some more refined controls too. But as is, you’re looking at a game that provides a challenging racing experience which is always dancing back and forth across a very thin line, between fun and down right frustrating. Its got enough content to satisfy but not enough overall substance to really impress.

Touch Racing Nitro – Ghost Challenge! on the App Store.