Car Mania: TPG Reader Review

Editor’s Note: We sent the word out to our tweeps for their opinions on iPhone games, and they’ve responded in full force! Enjoy this latest By The Tweeple, For The Tweeple review here on TPG! And if you want to join in on the fun, hit us up at tpg@theportablegamer.com!

Developer/Publisher: Origin8
Genre: Path Management
Price: $0.99
Verdict: A well crafted evolution of the Flight Control genre and priced right at 99 cents.
Pros: Can add your own soundtrack, OpenFeint to store high scores, 3 game types
Cons: Unlocking levels may be a chore for some, only 3 levels, only 2 speeds
Reviewer: Mike Boyle, @dolem1ke

This may be a bankrupt American auto industry simulator; in Car Mania there are only 2 types of cars left in the world: blue and yellow.

Stars appear when you park in the right garage

Upon launch, which is fairly quick on my 3GS, you are greeted to a slap bass track and a well drawn but somewhat cluttered menu screen.  Every mode is locked except the default, so pressing the large “GO!” sign is your only move out of the gate.  Building on the Flight Control concept of getting multiple objects from here to there safely, Car Mania drops you into an overhead view of a city reminiscent of the old GTA 1 and 2 style, where you use touch control to trace paths among points around the city blocks to guide a car to its corresponding garage.  Here, it is important to trace the exact path you want the car to go (the game will not register shortest distance between two points) and make use of the route points that exist at every intersection.  The car will always attempt to drive, (unless you pause it, which the driver will not be happy about) but once you establish a way point, it doubles its speed to reach that marker.

Touch GO to, well, go

There are offscreen entry points and the game tells you where the next car is coming from, just not what color it is.  When you have created a path for the car, it will move with purpose, and show two arrows on the roof to let you know where it is headed as well as a line overlaying the street showing the cars intended route.  You can tap the car to pause it, change it’s direction at any time, and when road construction pops up, rapidly tap the damage to repair the street.  Cars seem to do okay if they arrive at intersections at alternate times, they understand right of way, but if they arrive at the same time the cars smash into each other and explode with great fury, and the rage meter fills.  This meter is also increased for creating traffic jams and putting the wrong colored car in the designated garage.    Besides the ‘rage meter’ there is a ‘happy driver’ counter which you increase each time a hapless driver makes it into their carports.  A full rage meter equals game over. The happy meter is basically a purchase system to unlock new modes and levels of which there are 3 of each:

Modes:
Survival
Road Rage (300 happy drivers to unlock)
Time Attack (100 to unlock)

Levels:
New York
Freeway (200 to unlock)
Central (600 to unlock)

Even though there are only two colors of cars, they have different models, sizes, and speeds, and the images are just large enough to be able to properly use your index finger to control.  In game options also allow you to pause the game (where you can disable the music and sound effects) and speed it up as well, although there is only one extra speed.  If you get really good to where you are recording your game play and ‘youtubing’ it, you may wish for a faster mode.

While it may be a chore to some to have to unlock levels, I got 60 happy drivers (and a score of 21,660 in 8:18) on my first play, and unlocked time trial on my second play, so the designers clearly didn’t want you to have to grind too hard to open the whole game.

Whoops, that's a one-way

The graphics have a nice, sharp, vector look to them with a limited color palette and the game sports outstanding sound effects and collision explosion animations.  The designers did a good job of creating a layered sound experience of honking horns, angry drivers, and using clever animations to show the mood and state of each car.  This game is very easy to pick up and play from your first try.

The game allows you to play any music from your iPod library and create a simple playlist, a nice touch.  Also, with built in support for OpenFeint there is no hassle to store your high score and you can opt out if you wish.

If you enjoyed Flight Control, you will have a good time with a different take on a tried and true concept that is simple to play and a pretty fun way to kill a few minutes, as well as a few drivers.