Hill Climb Racing 3 hits all the right gears for my first impression of Fingersoft's new racer

• Hill Climb Racing 3 is the latest iteration in Fingersoft's long-running series
• Making the jump to 3.5D with a greater emphasis on multiplayer, it has big shoes to fill
• So can it manage it? I think it can, as I dove in and had a go as a first-timer this weekend

I’ve never been a big Hill Climb Racing fan. As you’ve probably already guessed if you’re a frequent reader, I was never much of a mobile gamer myself before 2022. But since then I’ve picked up many, yet this past weekend was the first time I got to grips with Fingersoft’s physics-based driving game, Hill Climb Racing 3.

Recently hitting soft launch in Germany, and also available in other regions such as Spain, the United Kingdom and Poland, Hill Climb Racing 3 is a classic example of the ‘next step’ for a series. Taking the racing format from purely 2D and into 3.5D with an even greater emphasis on fast-paced multiplayer competition.

It should be a winning formula. But is it? 

Getting started with Hill Climb Racing 3

What really struck me with Hill Climb Racing 3 was how fast I was into the game. A simple tutorial takes you through the mechanics, and within about five minutes you’ll be racing with the best of them. It all feels very seamless, and by about 10-15 minutes in, even a complete newcomer like myself felt pretty well-versed in what HCR is all about.

In terms of gameplay, if you’re a Hill Climb Racing fan, you initially won’t see much difference. You have two controls, for acceleration and deceleration that tip your car back and forwards, respectively. Navigating each track requires mixing and matching the two carefully as you try to balance between keeping up your speed and not flipping onto your back.

I found this to be one of the trickier but more rewarding parts. It reminded me of an older era of Flash that really leant into the chaos of physics-driven gameplay, although I admit even I was caught off guard when Bill Newton was taken out of commission by whacking his head against a ledge. I guess that’s why most of the vehicles have a roll bar.

Nice looking and nice sounding

The production values for Hill Climb Racing 3 are also obviously quite high. Each type of track has its own fast-paced country music theme, while the 3.5D art looks nice and runs quite well even on my older phone. Colours are particularly vibrant and pop out with jazzy and expressive character designs, all par for the course for something as stylised as Hill Climb Racing 3.

Some issues

My main issue was getting to grips with the controls themselves. Often, the thing that trips you up is ending up in a situation where a particularly steep hill stops you getting traction with your front wheels, if you approach it at too low a velocity, for example. That means either flipping onto your back as you try to edge up the hill or taking the loss and rolling nearly back down to the bottom before you can get started again.

I’d probably need to play a bit more as well, but tying your car’s performance to upgrades (bolts and coins here) is always a sticking point for me. I never really found myself having too much of an issue even when my opponents had clearly put in more hours than I did with their flashy vehicles. But even so, it worries me that in the final launch we’ll see these upgrades play a bigger role in balance than they should.

But should you play it?

Ultimately, though, I was very pleased with what I played of Hill Climb Racing 3. It looks better, runs well and has all the fun of other physics-based racers, as well as a variety of characters and vehicles. Races are fast to play and just as fast to get into, and it’s perfect for jumping into for a half-hour when you have the time.

Of course, all of this is still in soft launch, so we’ll have to find out exactly whether or not Fingersoft can keep that same sensation of fun when Hill Climb Racing 3 does release globally. But for now, if you’ve been thinking of giving it a go, I can give it a pretty positive thumbs up!

And if Hill Climb Racing 3 has given you a taste for racers, then be sure to dig into our list of the best racing games on iOS for some more great picks that you should play!