The period of outrageous arcade racers is all however lifeless nowadays. The likes of Forza Horizon and The Crew Motorfest have picked up the mantle, however we miss the times of sliding our Ferrari F50s round corners at right-angles, with retina burning SEGA blue skies and pumping c*ck rock offering the right backdrop. It’d be a felony offence to match Asphalt Legends Unite to the classics of yesteryear, like OutRun 2006 – but it surely’s the closest you’re going to seek out on PS5.
First, all the unhealthy stuff: this can be a free-to-play sport, so there are loot packing containers, card packs, microtransactions, and extra. You unlock new vehicles by gathering playing cards, after which incomes duplicates will increase their stats, just a little bit like in Disney Speedstorm. You’re additionally restricted by fuel which regenerates over time, so if you wish to maintain taking part in for lengthy durations, it’s greatest to have a big roster of vehicles as a result of you may’t maintain utilizing the identical one again and again.
The precise gameplay, although, is nice. Programs like San Francisco and the Himalayas are ridiculously oversaturated, with one race seeing you dash down a mountain whereas sizzling air balloons hover overhead. It actually captures that previous SEGA Dreamcast nostalgia; it’s not fairly as over-the-top because the Nintendo Change’s unfathomably underrated Cruis’n Blast, but it surely has an analogous form of spirit with oncoming trains and different equally foolish monitor prospers.
Regardless of the inclusion of actual vehicles, it additionally defies physics. Double tapping the handbrake button permits your automobile to carry out a full 360-degree flip, and you may then pair this with ramps so that you’re successfully spinning round within the air earlier than you land. All of this trickery builds increase, and there’s a degree of depth added in the way in which you employ it: tapping the increase button on the proper time for a Good Nitro provides just a little further pace, in any other case you may go for shorter sharper sprints when your meter is full.
The monetisation will put loads of gamers off, however the free-to-play format means anybody can soar in and benefit from the sheer absurdity of a few of its monitor designs. It is a bite-sized sport, supposed to be performed briefly bursts, so in the event you’ve been pining for one thing foolish, easy, and utterly over-the-top, there actually aren’t many higher choices on PS5. Generally all a sport must be is enjoyable, and Asphalt Legends Unite is strictly that.