DrawRace Review

With every new sort of gaming genre that comes out, there are plenty that seem to jump on the idea and run with it.  Usually what we see are a lot of bad knock offs that are just out there to try and make a buck off of things.  It’s like the film company, Asylum… you’ve seen their movies in video stores… they’re the group that does a movie called “The Day The Earth Stopped” that’s out in DVD at the same time as “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is in the theaters.  It’s hard to argue with the logic of trying to make a buck.

But thankfully a trend that started with the great game, “Flight Control”, has actually brought out some incredible games that are actually making this genre one of the best in the App Store.  The simple idea of drawing out a path for various vehicles to travel and having to manage what they do is a very clean on and easy to pull off on the device.

Recently I reviewed “Harbor Master” and boldly stated that I liked that game better than Flight Control… I still do, but I play them both quite a bit.  Now comes “DrawRace” from RedLynx and I think I’m going to be playing this one even more than the other two combined.

The idea behind DrawRace is that you’re drawing the path that a race car will take around a track.  What’s important here is that you are also controlling the speed of the car by how fast you draw the line.  This is important because your car can slide in turns if you’re going to fast and this will really mess up your time.  There is a lot of work that will go into shaving off tenths of seconds to get a good score.

The presentation of the game is very clean.  It will remind a lot of people of Flight Control in its appearance, but that’s a good thing.  I love the fact that you can tell what everything is and all of the copy is easy to read.  The sounds are also all well done for the game and add, rather than subtract, to the overall play.

The controls are also easy.  As mentioned, all you have to do is trace the path you want your car to race and watch the speed meter at the top to see how fast you are taking the corners.  The menu has big buttons so you’ll have no trouble with any part of this game.

Where the game shines is in its addictive nature.  A race takes very little time to complete and you can go to the global (or just national if you’d rather) scoreboard and see where your time ranks.  You can then go back and try to improve.  I was able to get me “QuickWit” name in the top five of many of the 20 race tracks… but it took some time.  You’re also told what percentage of people you are faster than and that’s a new wrinkle that I really like.

Multiplayer is another great feature… because there’s two versions.  On your device you can have up to three cars racing.  Each player can take turns on the same device and draw out their paths and then hit start to see how the race plays out.  I’ve done several of these races and have found this to be a great party type thing.  The other version lets you race against the world.  That’s right… you can challenge people all over the globe to see who can win the race.  This reminded me a lot of “Baseball Slugger” (another game I’m severely addicted to) in that there is always some one to play against, even when you’re alone.

In truth… I can’t find anything that is wrong with the game.  Sure I’d love to say it’s too hard in the later tracks, but I’m figuring out how to get better at them.  But there are a few things that I think would make this game even better.

The first would be Achievements.  This is one area that most games on the App Store should be striving for.  Going back to Baseball Slugger, look at how fun that game is because of those achievements.  DrawRace should copy that model.  They should also look at different cars.  Think about having a car that’s great on speed but doesn’t handle corners well, or visa versa.  Having a chance to pick your car would increase the replay factor even more.

The other area I’m hoping for is a track design mode.  Building your own track and then challenging people from around the world to race on your track would be really cool.  All three of these ideas would be great… but I’m content to wait… I’m even happy if they never come.

DrawRace has what every game should have; an ability to pick up and play quickly, and just the right amount of the “just one more try” factor that keeps you coming back.  This type of “draw your path” type of game is quickly becoming a favorite genre of mine and DrawRace is in the winner’s circle as my top game in the category.

The Good

Very Addictive… In The Fun Way
Nice, Crisp Presentation
Global Scoreboard Makes You Want To “Try Just One More”
Multiplayer – Both Types – Are A Lot Of Fun

The Bad

Nothing “Bad”, but…
Could Use Different Types Of Cars & Achievements
And A “Create Your Own Track” Feature

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Tags: draw race, iphone racer, racing apps, racing reviews

Category: Games