In Rocket Cars, it's only a matter of wacky racing

by Chrisanna Lazaridou on 31 January 2015 · 2796 views

As a longtime fan of car racing games, especially Rallies, I never miss new games of this genre that get released in the app store. Thus, it would be really hard for me to miss Rocket Cars which was developed by Illusion Labs - the makers of other successful iOS game apps such as Skate2, Touchgrind BMX, Mr. Crab, Blast-A-Way and many others.

If you’re familiar with any, or all of the previous titles, you’ll notice that Rocket Cars marks a different turn to the way you’ve known them until now. Rocket Cars will remind you of the traditional and casual kart racing games that you’re familiar with.

What separates it from the typical kart game apps however, is that it is designed in a way that allows the players to play using only one hand, and not both hands as most other games of the same genre do.

Gameplay

Now, on to the game itself. A plot is non-existent in kart games, so I’ll go straight to the gameplay and features that it includes.

In Rocket Cars the player drives, or pilots, since we’re talking about rocket cars, through a variety of stages, that include monster trucks, buggies, pickups, dangerous switchbacks, moving obstacles, opponent cars (obviously) and others, which you’ll experience while racing. The game comes with 5 different modes to choose from (elimination, position, time gates, time pickup and time trial) and 67 different levels. All of them deliver a high degree of polish that looks absolutely beautiful in motion.

You can choose from a plethora of cars, some of which are free (5 cars), and others are unlocked throughout the game. Of course there are some which are unlocked via the IAP feature. Apart from cars, there are 50 tracks to play on, which are unlockable as well.

Another feature that makes this kart game unique and more fun is that it comes with missions that you’ll have to complete if you want to gain more rewards (which you can use later in order to upgrade you cars), or power-ups, such as missiles and shockwaves. These are obtained while racing and increase the vehicle’s capabilities.

As far as the competiveness go, the player can blow opponents off the course as long as you have a required amount of speed; and of course, different types of cars causes different outcomes.

In addition, the player can do a barrel roll and backflip at once by using the correct control combinations, something that will give the car a powerful boost. The opponents’ karts will fly to all sides of the arena if kicked, so expect crazy car acrobatics and spins, and as always, hilarious unrealistic physics.

Each course has quite a few ramps, and once you get air, you can spin in various directions to pull off crazy stunts.

The races don’t last long and this can be considered either a minus or a plus, depending on the player. Also, you won’t find it hard to finish levels and move on to the next one. Your car can do all kinds of tricks while driving, like flipping on the air and colliding (in over the top physics) with other objects or cars. Each challenge out of the 67 ones is unique and offers a different experience for the player through the action; the same can be said about the races, which can be described with only one word: chaos. The environments of the racing stages are gorgeous and full of colors. Most of all, weirdness ensues in all of them with strange objects, plants, and others.

Controls

As I mentioned earlier Rocket Cars can be played with one hand, so for that to be possible the controls must be really simple- and they are, indeed. The player uses swipes or taps depending on what works best for him. All you have to do is tap, hold at the bottom of the screen, move your finger left and right to steer and up and down to adjust speed. The controls work very well but it takes time to get the grip.

In-App Purchases

Rocket Cars is the first game by Illusions Labs that belongs to the Freemium apps category, although (as expected) includes IAP purchases. However, these purchases are optional and don’t make a big difference for the player. Purchases include car upgrades, temporary boosts and a few others. The game does a great job of balancing the difficulty curve, so that you never feel like upgrades and IAP are necessary, unlike many other freemium racing games. There’s an energy meter, but you can watch video ads to replenish it, which doesn’t happen that often either.

Design

No matter how good a game is, graphics are always the main measure that a player measures the quality of a game. Thankfully for Rocket Cars, not only the gameplay is fantastic, but the graphics come in par with it and the designs of the environments, cars, and race tracks are extremely detailed, with bright and lively colors causing a very playful feeling. The menu system is equally beautiful too.

Conclusion

Rocket Cars is all about speed, no matter what your challenge is. It is a chaotic kart racing game, simple at its core and gameplay with lots of fun and action awaiting the players. Although the controls may seem tricky at first you will be able to win many races and even complete all given missions without much trouble, once you figure them out. Easy doesn’t mean boring though, so expect many challenges and feelings of frustration. All in all, it is a well-made kart game that doesn’t force IAP in your face, and everyone can enjoy it for free with no trouble at all. If you enjoy kart racing give this new game a chance.