Offering Micro Machines-style racing on the iPad, does Remedy’s Death Rally have the gameplay to ensure pole position on Apple’s tablet?
By Leo Stiles
Now here’s a surprise, a game from Remedy Entertainment that didn’t take five years to complete and unlike the infamously delayed Alan Wake, the developer’s new iPad game, Death Rally, is no disappointment.
Even a sideways glance at a screen shot should tell you most of what you need to know about the game, which is a top-down rally racer in the mould of the classic Micro Machines series and last year’s App Store gem Reckless Racing.
Added in to this mix is a large dose of weapons based combat, some silky smooth visuals and a well thought out and addictive progression structure that makes the whole thing pretty damn addictive.
The control system Remedy has gone for is, at first, so unwieldy that I was tempted to delete the game from my iPad after just five minutes of fumbling. The controls are mapped to a virtual analogue stick and an additional fire button and instead of the left right buttons of similar titles, so you have to use circular motions to steer you car around the tracks.
However, perseverance shows the true beauty of this scheme, which is that the thumb stick acts as the accelerator as well as the steering wheel and with practice, this delivers a nice degree of precision that isn’t apparent the first time to give it a go. Without the need for other steering and acceleration controls, the fire button become a useful tool to thin out the grid and move up places.
Micro Machines ‘with attitude’ is a nauseating but fairly correct description for the app
Initially, I was all over the place and as I came in last for the 100th time, I began to wonder if I had wasted my money. Fortunately, the car you are given at the start is a feeble and unwieldy beast and with a couple of upgrades bought with cash earned from those races, my car was suddenly capable of quite a bit more and I was placing second and third with pleasing regularity.
Placing first is another matter entirely because in each event, the race leader is a boss character that will tear you up if you get ahead. Here, races turns into a cat and mouse game as you simultaneously try to damage your rival and get ahead without being reduced to ash.
Inflicting damage is the name of the game and as you shoot up your opposition they get slower and afford you the opportunity to move up the grid. This goes both ways and you have to be very careful to avoid taking too much damage as limping across the finish line will eat into your winning as you have to repair your car after each race. The more repairs you have to carry out, the less you have to spend on upgrades and weapons.
Vehicular warfare
Weapons come in a nice variety of shotguns and rocket launchers and can be upgraded along with the rest of your car, including things like armour, handling and speed. Further weapons and cars can also be unlocked by collecting parts scattered around the games eight tracks.
A special mention has to go to the graphics which are nicely detailed and replete with impressive effects and explosions. The game also runs with higher resolution graphics and at 60 frames per second on the iPad 2, which might go some ways to justifying your recent upgrade.
Currently Death Rally has no multiplayer option, which is a shame as I could see player versus player races becoming fiercely competitive affairs but Remedy, to their credit, have announced that this feature will be added in the near future. It will be a free update too.
All-in-all, Death Rally is an impressive package and one that is sure to improve with time and practice. If this is the sort of game that Remedy intends to pursue in the future then iPad gamers will be well served.
Death Rally is available now on the Apple App Store and is priced at €3.99.
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