Nine Over Ten 9/10

When it comes to motorcycle games on the DS, I can’t really think of any except for the recent Ducati Moto.

Vroom Vroom

Unlike racing cars (or karts for that matter), motorbikes require a slightly higher level of finesse given that they are lighter and you can always mess up your race by steering poorly into a corner. Ducati Moto does manage to convey that kind of motorcycle racing and along with the rather buxom female character models; it’s a pretty solid game.

Money Money Money

The usual game modes are there and the meat of the game is in the Championship mode. Here you race for money and this moolah doesn’t go to waste as the game has a garage option whereby money can be spent on upgrading your bike or for buying a new one. Money is also spent fixing your bike for the damages incurred during the race.

There’s a small element of gambling whereby an AI opponent will bet some money on he or she beating you, before the start of a race. You can choose to accept or decline this potential side income.

Like Driving Uphill

An unfortunate downside about the Championship mode is the high requirements for unlocking tracks. It’s 20 points per track and finish 3rd in a race will only award you a single point…. You get the idea.

A surprising addition to the game is Nintendo WFC support; this means that players can race with other Ducati Moto racers from around the world. How cool is that? Now you can have your very own Moto GP J

Picturesque

Graphics wise, the game is entirely in 3D and anything on the DS that looks prettier than the first 2 incarnations of the Need for Speed games on the PC would win my vote anytime. The first track of the game looks impressive and maintaining the steady frame rate along with the drawing distance is an applaudable feat.

Summary

As mentioned earlier, Ducati Moto is not only a pretty good racing motor racing game but a pretty good racing game in general; Highly recommended for motorheads anywhere. It is should be available at Play-Asia this July. Click here for details.

Putting Corvette Evolution GT in the same league as some of the more cookie-cutter racing games on the Nintendo DS would do its developers a certain amount of injustice. As a software developer myself, there’s a certain degree of pride attached to each software product released to production.

Back to my earlier sentence, despite what seems to be a generic run of the mill racing game, Evolution GT does have some features to race ahead from the rest of the mediocre to poor pack of racers.

CARS, CARS CARS

The game developed by Island Racing Studios features a number of licensed cars from a host of manufacturers, although not the usual ones that conjure up into mind as far as racing games are concerned. There are cars from Opel, Chevrolet, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen and a couple more.

One thing that Corvette Evolution GT managed to produce with the unusual stable of cars is that each car handles and sounds differently! Variety being the spice of life, I don’t mind driving an Audi Quattro around the track but it does nobody any favours since it handles like a brick .

Location, Location, Location

The track locales are nothing short of European, with London, Barcelona, Milan, the Tuscany Hills and even the Scottish Highlands taking centre stage. Unlike the recent Wacky Racers which adopted a distinctively 2D look reminiscence of its cartoon heritage, Evolution GT takes place in 3D.

Cars and tracks are rendered rather smoothly and minus the occasional rendering artifacts the game looks great. Taking into account the number of buildings (which are pretty detailed and are not washed out) rendered, Evolution GT’s draw distance is pretty good and to top it off, there’s a consistent frame rate.

All Good Things…

Despite all the good stuff above, Corvette Evolution GT is only among the best of the rest. There’s nothing really innovative in the racing experience. The lack of damage modeling, bump-happy AI and pretty basic game modes (plus the constant need to unlock stuff in order to play) detracts from the entire gameplay experience.

Summary

Still, if you are looking for an uncomplicated racing game with a pretty face, do check out Corvette Evolution GT. The game is available at Play-Asia, click here for details

The Tower DS is basically a Japanese version of Sim Tower for the Nintendo DS. While the objective of the game is pretty straightforward (build buildings such as condominiums, there’s a nice homage to a Nintendo icon in-game.

Guess who is in town? It’s a me, Mario!

The Tower DS is currently available at Play-Asia. Click here for details.