Whether someone wants it or not, mobile games are increasingly stepping on the heels of their console brothers. This is especially noticeable in racing. NFS for smartphones clearly aims to be relatives of NFS for TVs: CSR Racing resembles a separate mode of serious computer racing.
and Real Racing has something in common with the late Burnout. Today’s patient, Gear. Club, is desperately aiming for the same category as Forza Horizon. And it’s weird. Not because it’s hard for mobile technologies to pull the resources of the locomotive race for Xbox and PC, but because the authors of another famous racing series, Test Drive Unlimited, worked on Gear. Club. Such is the interweaving of big names.
And there is a little more – and Provence
The handwriting of the eminent studio is immediately visible – Gear Club is desperately knocked out of the general series of mobile races. Even if you do not know that Eden Games had a hand in its creation, after five minutes it is obvious that the game is not a timid one. It was like flipping through daytime series on TV – and accidentally landed on a Hollywood classic. First, of course, the graphics. It’s not about technology – the same NFS looks prettier – but about some kind of forbidden attraction of the virtual environment. The essence of freedom, happiness and universal joy is literally spilled in the air; the sea horizon stretches behind the track, seagulls soar and yachts sway.
Comparison with Forza Horizon suggests itself – both of these games, like no other, are able to convey the atmosphere of a light holiday. As with Horizon, Gear Club doesn’t even feel like driving. I want to get out of the car, buy a bottle of Chateau de Belle, lie down on the beach and forget about everything. You expect such an extremely rare feeling not from racing, but from life in general. Although who, if not Eden Games, who at one time introduced the PlayStation 2 to NFS: Porsche Unleashed, the most aesthetic race in the world, reproduce such matters? French, one word.
On the track, however, everything is also in order – three hundred violent stallions are eager from under the hood and are waiting in the wings. Enter the turn easily, but if you know how to play with speed: slow down in time, release the accelerator and go tightly with the bump stop. But the controls in Gear Club largely depend on the settings. You can get by with the arcade mode – you know.
twist your tablet like a steering wheel. You can play hardcore: knock out all the computer assistants, drive the auxiliary dotted arrow off the asphalt, turn on the normal buttons. Then you will understand what’s what – the car will skid, and the turns will become a challenge. This is where real skill is required. But still don’t count on much. The physics in Gear Club are viscous, and the car will still feel like a cast-iron bath – the car is so tightly attached to the road.
But there is always the right to make a mistake – after all, this is not a “sapper”. If you unsuccessfully drove some part of the route, time rewind comes to the rescue. And the more upgrades in your muscle car, the further you can rewind; usually a couple of seconds is enough. By the way, there are no body damages, but this does not mean that you need to slow down into an opponent or a bump stop – after each race, the condition of the car slightly worsens, and over time it is necessary to carry out a full MOT. If you transfer your driving habits from GTA, the new BWM will drive into the diagnostic stand much more often than we would like.
Real human being
Between races, you are doing a seemingly logical, but completely atypical business for mobile racing – delving into your workshop. No, it’s not like a garage from CSR Racing or NFS; this is a full-fledged hangar that you equip yourself. Here the game from Forza: Horizon turns into The Sims: you need to put a body shop, a tuning stand, stick dividing strips here (well, what else to do with the new Ford Mustang?), there will soon be a tire fitting shop.
but here we will organize a rest room – coffee machines , armchairs and slot machines are on their way. Auto mechanics scurry between the stands, whom you also hire yourself: look at personal files and experience. All this miracle is animated in the spirit of the expensive Settlers strategy. Engine replacement, new tires and even balancing are worked out no worse than the game itself – all the main actions are in place. Seeing this on a small screen that rarely shows things more complicated than “press this button to the beat” is very, very amazing.
Unfortunately, the mobile footprint has taken its toll – and not so much mobile as shareware. Everything, absolutely everything in Gear Club is done with a time delay – in professional circles it was dubbed “timing”, and these timings are simply inhumane. Pass MOT – no problem: five minutes of waiting, or gold ahead. Same with all other questions. And gold, of course, is a premium currency.
and on the road (at least in the literal sense) is not lying around. As a result, after an hour of playing, a difficult choice begins: either abandon Gear Club, because all processes are frozen for 30-40 minutes, or throw some money into ingots. And after all, you want more and more – the game has a well-thought-out system of races, new tracks are constantly opening, premium tournaments, online battles and a bunch of other goodies.
