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Drift Mania Championship – Driving-by-the-seat-of-your-pants High-speed 3D Racing

Posted Friday, September 9th, 2011 at 12:20 pm by Paul Wilks 0 Comments

User Rating4.20/5

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Drift Mania Championship is a challenging racing game with incredible graphics, a pumping alt-rock soundtrack and loads of cars and tracks to unlock. The aim of the game is to hit the bends at the right moment and at the right position, hit the hand brake and slide into a sweet ‘drift’ around the corner. Tough to master but insanely rewarding.

Price: Free, ~$1.01

Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone

AndroidTapp.com Android Game Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Very impressive 3D graphics.
• Genuinely challenging and addictive.
• One of the best soundtracks on any game ever.
• Responsive controls.

Cons

• Takes some practice to fully master the controls.

Features:

Drift Mania Championship is an essential game for any racing fan. This is driving-by-the-seat-of-your-pants high-speed thrill stuff. The basic premise is to ‘drift’ round the corners at very high speeds meaning, if you do it right, you are burning rubber as you drift sideways around the track. To do this you have to accelerate hard and, when you hit a corner, combine turning with hitting the handbrake creating a ‘drift’ manoeuvre where you virtually glide round the corner. It’s not an easy move to pull off, but it’s very impressive when you do!

Firstly you’ll notice the gorgeous graphics; bright, detailed and deliciously 3D. The quality can be seen throughout the game too as menus, sub-menus and the Highlights feature all have equally impressive graphics. You control the car by accelerometer, meaning you tilt the phone, and this gives you some pretty impressive shots across the track too. The tracks and cars have a huge level of detail and look very cool indeed.

The other thing you’ll notice is the soundtrack- thumping alt-rock with some brilliantly catchy tunes. It’s the kind of music you find yourself humming along to after the game has finished, and has a nicely familiar kick to it when you play the game again. I think there’s a couple of different tracks and both are superb.

The controls on-screen are multi-touch and very responsive. These include an accelerator, the (drift-inducing) handbrake and a reverse pedal. Drifting is a tricky art and it’s very easy to get it very very wrong, don’t fret if you hit a wall or end up facing the wrong way- that’s part of the learning process- but the reverse does come in helpful at times! Responsive too is the accelerometer with which you turn, and you can actually adjust the responsiveness in the settings menu. I found this to be really helpful and it’s worth experimenting with sensitivity to suit your playing style. You can actually change the accelerator pedal for a throttle bar if you wish, maybe worth a try if you find the pedal lacks control enough for you.

Initially I found the controls very tricky. Combining turning, handbrake and gas- all at just the right levels required for the corner- is a touch skill to master and more often than not you might overturn or hit the wall somehow. I found the best way to stay in control initially is to pump the gas (just tap it repeatedly)- this lets you stay in relative control when you first start. As you progress you rely on this less and less, but it’s good practice. The first time I played it was pretty messy and it took me ages to complete the track, I like racing games generally but this was really hard to play. All I would say is don’t let it put you off, stick with it if you can. Once you begin to get the hang of it, you can really start drifting properly and sliding around corners has never been so sweet. Drift Mania Championship really nails the experience and it’s incredibly exhilarating when you get it right.

Included in the game is 7 different cars and 5 different tracks. Obviously each has a different experience to it. While this isn’t a huge amount of tracks- you need to get to know every corner quite well to get a good time, so racing the same ones over and over isn’t a bad thing really.

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Fun Factor:

Get over the initially tricky controls and the game is hugely rewarding and plenty of fun. There really is something incredibly special about hitting a corner just right and slamming into a wide drift, then for your tires to suddenly get traction and speed you into a straight. It’s all high-octane and a very pulsating gaming experience that will resonate with all fans of racing and car games.

Addictive:

Absolutely. The hurdle again is getting your head around the controls and mastering them. Once you do this and limit the number of times you crash, the game becomes hugely addictive an you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to play the game again. Imagine dreaming about hitting a sweet corner….

Graphics:

The graphics are absolutely top-notch for Android devices and few games are this good. There are all kinds of graphical details and touches included in the game and it is all very impressive to play. These kind of games remind me heavily of the graphics you got with PlayStation 1 and even some PlayStation 2 games, superb on a smartphone.

Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:

The accelerometer is a crucial feature to the game and you need to master this to control your car. Luckily it’s very accurate and responsive. There are even options to adjust its sensitivity- well worth experimenting with to get it right for you and how you want to play the game.

The sound, as mentioned is fantastic. Exclusives from a uber-cool alt-rock record label called Good Fight Music, it’s original, well thought out to suit the game and utterly thumping. Very few games make you wonder who the band is in the same way- it makes you want to go and Google them.

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