Review: Rocket Racing (Aero Racer)

Developer: Halfbrick Studios

Publisher: Halfbrick Studios

I must confess, I’m not normally a fan of top-down racers, but when I saw the art style and some brief gameplay footage, I was sold on this £3.99 mini.  Now, my own gaiming inadequacies aside, Halfbrick’s Rocket Racing is a pretty good little racer, with an interesting wall-grind/boost mechanic.  Unfortunately, I have no patience for the gameplay on offer here, but I was willing to give it a try, only to be left frustrated.

The graphics are simplistic, but effective, evoking a bit of WipEout’s stylings but with emphasis on primary colours and uncluttered tracks.  The ships come in four colours, and there is absolutely no difference in performance with whatever ship you choose, unless you think green goes like stink and red is slow as treacle.  Mind you, treacle comes in a red tin…  Anyway, the ships are easily identifiable, they’re not complex and they do the job.

The wall-boost/grind system is pretty good: get your burners close enough to the wall, and you’ll grind and gain speed with the blowback from your jets, springing off the wall for a brief speed advantage, but be careful not to bump into the wall, or you’ll slow right down.  There’s also the staple boost pads, as well as slow-down sections, offering a bit of variety.The tracks are well-designed 2D affairs and fairly short for bite-sized pieces of gaming, which is what you’re looking for in a mini anyway.

However, after seeing some footage of the original XBL version, I was a bit disappointed with the game’s minis treatment, as it seems like a sub-par port, rather than one of equal value.  I know it’s only a mini, but is it so wrong to expect it to look about as good as the XBox 360 version, with the same tracks, interface and changeable control schemes?  The menu graphics look tacked on and a little hazy, rather than the bright and cheery interface you get on the 360, but that’s only a minor thing, because in-game graphics are identical. The sound is alright; standard trance type tracks in the background and the effects are decent enough, but not really too noteworthy.

Overall, Rocket Racing is a good top-down rocket racing game with an interesting mechanic, but it’s not revolutionary in any sense, but good on the Indie developer anyway.  I hope to see more and better games from them in the future.