Asphalt 8: Airborne is the successor to Gameloft's
incredibly popular racing game, Asphalt 7: Heat. It
carries on the tradition of providing an exciting racing
experience on your mobile device with an added twist.
The title of the game is a pointer to the biggest change
compared to its predecessor. Asphalt 8: Airborne
rewards for tricks you perform while you are in the air,
like doing Barrel Rolls or Flat Spin jumps. You can do
Barrel Rolls by driving onto one of the many angled
ramps present on the track, letting a mix of gravity and
momentum do the rest. In most cases you can trust
that you'll land safely, unless you really messed up the
approach. Flat Spin jumps are a bit tricker to perfect,
as they require you go off a ramp while drifting
(braking the car at high speed while steering it), and
the success or failure depends on the angle of your
approach.
You can play Asphalt 8: Airborne in various modes
including World Series (Multiplayer over the Internet), a
local Wi-Fi race, a quick Solo race, or the Career mode.
The main screen of the game can be a little
intimidating, and it takes a while to figure out the
various options.
In Career mode, you start with a car and a pretty
minimal budget, and try to earn more money by
winning races and performing tricks. As you go along,
you also have the opportunity to pick up stars that
unlock the next racing events within the season. You
can pick up to five stars at each event, with 3 based on
where you finish (1 star for finishing third, 3 stars for
winning the race) and two additional stars for
achieving event-specific objectives like doing the
specified number of Barrel Rolls, Knockdowns, Perfect
Nitro Triggers etc.
Asphalt 8: Airborne features excellent graphics though
you may need the latest devices to enjoy them to the
maximum. The game stuttered at times on our iPhone
4S, though our third-generation iPad handled
everything without any hiccups. However, we liked the
fact that we could seamlessly switch from one device
to the other and the game was able to sync our
progress via the cloud using the Game Center ID for
authentication.
Coming to the actual gameplay, the default controls for
Asphalt 8: Airborne feature tilt to steer, auto-
acceleration, with taps on the left and right edge of the
screen to brake (drift) and nitro-boost respectively.
You can of course change the controls to get tap-to-
steer and manual acceleration, if that's what you
prefer. The in-game music is pretty good, with an
option to choose between Bass, Rock, and Electronic
music.
It's quite easy to start playing Asphalt 8: Airborne, but
surprisingly difficult to actually win a race, especially
with the crummy car you start with. You can upgrade
your car by making an in-app purchase, or by working
your way up by winning races - did we mention how
difficult that is? You can drive a near perfect race, and
still find yourself unable to overtake the five AI-
controlled cars. Maybe that's just us, and the
petrolheads out there would do a better job.
Each event in a season is associated with a city. So
you can be driving across the desert in Nevada in one
event, and find yourself speeding through the streets
of Tokyo in another. You'll go through tunnels, avoid
oncoming traffic, and even discover a shortcut or two
along the way. We personally liked the ability to take a
different route compared to the other racers, though it
does come with mixed results - sometimes you gain an
edge, and at other times you end up going around in
circles without getting anywhere.
Asphalt 8: Airborne is just $0.99 for iOS (universal app
for iPhone and iPad) as well as Android . At the price,
the game is a must download, especially if you have
the latest hardware and don't mind slowly working
your way to the top.
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