Horror Racing for iPhone Review

What’s it all about?

_

Horror Racing came to the iPhone App Store with little fanfare. It wasn’t a previously-proven iPhone series, but it did come from a large iPhone publisher, Chillingo. Because of that, and because of Chillingo’s past hits on Apple’s device, many people gave Horror Racing a try on a whim, or after trying out the free version of the game. From there, the game has been a best-seller to this day.

The game is, as you would imagine, a racing game. It is presented in a 3/4 overhead view which may remind you of the early days of Nintendo racing games like RC ProAm and other. You control your vehicle with an on-screen steering wheel on the right side of the screen, while your left thumb controls the weapon pick-ups that are scattered around the track.

Horror Racing employs a very interesting aesthetic where everything looks like it’s from an 80’s horror movie. The cars and characters you play as are all monsters of one sort or another, and none of them look the same. Maybe you’ll be playing as a giant hairy beast, or perhaps a huge walking eyeball, you never know with Horror Racing.

The tracks themselves have plenty of twists and turns, and all along the way there are weapon pick-ups. You can pick up mines or rockets or ammo for your on-car machine gun. There’s even a power-up that turns your vehicle into a glowing ball of death, that can destroy the other racers just by touching them. It’s all very unique and there certainly isn’t anything else like it on the App Store.

Graphics, Audio and Verdict

As we said, Horror Racing has a very cool look and theme. Everything is very detailed, from the menus to the trees on the courses. There are awesome weapon effects like bullets clanking off of enemy vehicles and explosions when a car has taken too much damage. Despite being presented in an isometric view, the cars and racetracks themselves are rendered in 3D. This allows a stunning amount of detail, despite how far away the “camera” is from the actual vehicles and track.

The soundtrack of Horror Racing is a bit of a mix between metal scores and horror sound effects. It’s all very fitting to the theme of the game. Sound effects ring out in high-quality glory, things like rockets exploding and mines being triggered sound great and it becomes very clear that the developers spent plenty of time and effort on each aspect.

Horror Racing is still a truly one-of-a-kind experience. The game looks and plays great, and there’s nothing like it on the App Store. The game did have issues when iOS4 was first released, and led to a massive fan outcry, but that has all been cleared up and the game is lining up for another run at first place.