Game Reviews

Groove Racer

Star onStar onStar onStar halfStar off
|
iOS
| Groove Racer
Get
Groove Racer
|
iOS
| Groove Racer

It's not immediately apparent how a niche toy that had its heyday 30 years ago might be a perfect fit for the iOS conversion treatment.

Scalextric was expensive, time-consuming, tricky to master, and demanded lots of space - all things that would seem to run counter to key mobile gaming principles.

But condense this miniature slot racing toy onto a 4- or 10-inch digital display and it becomes the ideal bite-size single-finger racing sub-genre.

Finger on the button

SlotZ Racer and its sequel have so far led the charge for iOS slot racers, but Groove Racer provides a compelling alternative.

This is a much more accessible, dare we say casual experience than Strange Flavour's well-received effort.

The perspective is less flashy, with a fixed isometric view and deliberately blocky graphics, but this has the benefit of making the tight track action easier to follow.

As you'd expect, control is of the one-thumb variety - touch the screen to make your little car accelerate, release to brake. That's it.

Making the switch

With the initial batch of simple track designs and slow cars, you barely need to lift off at all, but soon you'll be encountering elaborately twisting, undulating courses that switch back - and switch over - frequently.

At its most challenging - and, it has to be said, least fun - these courses become like a screen-tapping action game as you warily feather the throttle throughout virtually the whole track. Such cases, which are most evident in the third snow-themed set of levels and with the police interceptor vehicle, are just frustrating.

But when Groove Racer really nails it, with a nice mix of technical turns and high-speed open sections, it really is a thrill to play.

Super cars

There's a noticeable difference in handling between the cars, which include slow-but-grippy buggies and temperamental supercars. Given the on-rails nature of the gameplay and the simple one-button gameplay, that's quite a feat.

The presentation, too, makes for a thoroughly pleasant environment in which to perfect your times and get that third gold cup for each stage.

It could do with levelling out its challenge and a little editing of its track design, then, and would also benefit from an extra element like SlotZ Racer's track editor. But Groove Racer is a thoroughly decent digital approximation of a childhood classic.

Groove Racer

A tight and attractive single-thumb racer that prompts you to perfect your lap times, but suffers from somewhat uneven track design
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.