Here on the iPhone Application List we promise to bring you accurate reviews and not just marketing blurb or fanboy rants. And so, in the spirit of honesty, Audi’s attempt to get in on the ‘promo game’ market has to be decried as something of a dud. The elements and pitch are all present and correct but Audi A4 falls down at the main hurdle, that of gameplay, into which it seems to have poured a far too small fraction of the budget reserved for the title.
First impressions are great, with an animated, cinema-like Audi montage, with sweeping visuals, followed by a swish title screen – so far so good, this looks like a high budget title. And, after all, who doesn’t like driving games? ‘How to play’ is a set of tutorial screens, introducing the idea of on-screen accelerator and brake keys, plus using the iPhone’s accelerometer to steer. Again, looking good, although the top-down-only driving format is a bit of a disappointment after the first person 3D visuals in other driving games on the platform.
‘Start game’ is where it all starts to go horribly wrong. Most driving games work in 3D and manage to generate a feeling of speed and realism, especially important giving that you’re driving a top-spec Audi. But here, even mashing down on the accelerator only manages to speed up the car to what feels like 20mph (30kph) – the modelled speed obviously seems right to the timing computer, which shows you tracking round the circuit’s twists and turns in roughly correct time, but your Audi still only seems to be crawling around a driving school test track of cones, rather than a real life racing circuit. It’s just a huge, huge anti-climax. You can adjust the accelerometer sensitivity to make it easier to control and thus knock over less cones (each a 1 second time penalty), but to be honest, it’s not worth going to the trouble – the game’s simply nowhere near enough fun.
All of which is a shame, since there’s been some thought gone into setting up five different circuits, a variety of time objectives, a ’shadow’ car feature (in which it represents the lap record, so you’re racing against your own best showing, etc.) and unlockable extra cars.
The final straw is that the game doesn’t remember its own state, so if you get interrupted by doing something else on your iPhone, when you get back into the game you have to start from the opening animations.
Again and again.
Audi A4 Driving Challenge may be free, but it doesn’t achieve its aim of drawing people to the brand. After spending an hour or two with the game in the interests of reviewing it, I’d be inclined to steer clear of the actual car if it’s anywhere near as little fun as its in-game equivalent!
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