I guess I am, as coined by others, a true “silver gamer” having played games since the late seventies.
Recently, I was challenged by a friend to download and install Asphalt 8 from the Microsoft store. As he put it; “you simply have to!”.
So with a “I’m gonna beat you” kind of grin, I downloaded and installed the game. What I soon came to realize was that it was not that easy and I lost quite some matches against him.
It is in fact one of the most addictive arcade racers I have played in my entire life, but realistic? NO!
If you are after a racing sim, look elsewhere, but if you can enjoy arcade racing, this is your game.
All about reflexes, sliding through curves, nitros, knocking down the opponents and adrenaline kicks, I love it!
The feeling of speed and the aerial acrobatic stunts performed (more often than not by chance) are breathtaking.
Before going further, I would like to give you two hints for the higher levels:
The computer AI cars are tuned to your speed and so once you have passed all cars, stop the nitro, you will need it if one of the cars pass you.
If you crash, the AI cars ahead of you are driving at almost nitro speed and so if you are at the middle of that game, just hit escape and start over.
As I mention in the header, it is free to download and install…
I had not played many minutes before wanting a faster car and then I noticed that while you could race and earn “Credits” to buy cars, many was only offered for “Asphalt dollars” - That is where the micro transaction scheme comes in as they can only be bought or won by racing in online multiplayer cups.
I could not help but noticing and was shocked that they asked more than $100 for the most expensive car (graphic) alone - can that even be considered micro.
I would probably consider buying such an outstanding arcade racer for $100 off the shelf in a shop, but just one in-game piece of graphic? It does not stop there as they offer even “Credits” you can buy to make you able to get the better cars offered for the “currency” without wining games.
I have since calculated that I could have spent more than $1000 so far if I had chosen to. Imo that is greed and nothing but greed and so I decided not to spend a cent.
I checked the net and sure enough, there are ways around that. I will not recommend it of course as any download poses a risk of infection and playing fair is always best… That goes for Gameloft, the (imo greedy) gamehouse as well though.
That brings me to the multiplayer part and kids (I hope) using the aforementioned trainer online. A trainer when used in online multiplayer is ruining the game mode for all and not only for the player using it.
In this case and with the prices asked by Gameloft, I would expect the company to do a better job banning cheeters, but I still play - why?.
Not all out there are cheeters and so I find great pleasure in fighting for third or fourth place against another honest player instead of getting irritated about what I can not do anything about.
A special thanks to the player named Amir K, It was great playing against you. you had my adrenaline pumping