Is the future-like speedster worth a look?
All you need to do to progress in the game is achieve one of the level goals such as “no crashes” or “finish the race in a certain amount of time.” Good luck with the no crashes one because it’s going to take you a while to get comfortable with the course and that means you’re going to crash at least once. This theory will have perfectionists playing over and over again to get all the achievements. The game also does a great job with the online features. You’ll be able to compete against your friends for best time as well as globally against random people. I have always said that online play should allow for competition against random people.
As I also said before that the controls are similar to Mario Kart Seven. I feel like a good comparison is between Mario Kart and F-Zero in the racing aspect/steering to MK and the future-like cars and environments to F-Zero. You really feel like you’re driving through futuristic environments and the music sounds fantastic as well. I really like listening to soundtracks and the music for AiRace Speed stacks up with some of the best on the 3DS. The menu music as well as the different course themes parlay a feeling of “this is the future!” It feels like you’re driving an airplane in terms of the steering where up means down and vice versa. Follow the different color-coded gateways to make the tougher turns easier to make and cut valuable seconds off your time. However, it’s very easy to get lost in the courses and very easy to crash on a simple maneuver. It is difficult to judge turns and distance from obstacles at times, which you wouldn’t think would be difficult in 3D but it is. You can counter that by leaning into turns, which makes it easier to steer so that’s a plus.
To conclude, AiRace Speed for the 3DS is one of the better looking and sounding games for the system. A good group to compare it to would be Mario Kart and F-Zero in terms of general race games and high-speed future-like racing games. The online features and replay value are great to have and provide more playtime and fun for the players. However, the toughness factor is a little too high off the bat where performing simple turns is a struggle as well as getting lost in the different courses. Combine those features with steering that could have been tighter and you have yourself a tough game that could borderline on frustrating at times. I’m giving AiRace Speed for the 3DS an 8/10, a game that uses the 3D so well that is more than capable of keeping the gamers playing, even if it is tough at times.
Score: 8 / 10
