Reckless Racing

The bad news is that, after releasing some of the best games in the Android Market, Polarbit's quality has been a bit shaky. The good news is that Reckless Racing piggybacks on their initial trend of top notch games. I've tried a few top down race games on the Android and have never really come away as impressed. Reckless Racing changes that and is a keeper.

It's simple... Reckless Racing is a top down racing game (meaning that your perspective is as if you are flying overhead looking straight down at the track). The game features three modes of play in single player mode called Dirt Rally (a straight up race), Hot Lap (race solo for the fastest time possible), and Delivery (pickup and deliver). Once you've selected all of your options you start the race. The graphics are very pretty with dirt roads, bridges, puddles to splash through, cones to knock over, ...etc. The environment has lots of stuff to knock around. Couple this with some appropriate, deep south banjo music and, as much as I hate banjo music, the game sound great. When controlling your car you have three options... two touch screen layouts and a tilt option. I played mainly with the touch screen choices as that felt good and I'm already tilting my phone back and forth a bit as I wind around the tracks. The touch screen controls are tight and I didn't have any issues maneuvering around tight turns.

The game also features network play and leader boards along with a variety of cars and tracks. One thing that would have been cool, given the graphics and physics engines they have built this game around, would have been a demolition derby mode. I love demolition derbies and have to admit that it was almost as much fun ramming into the other cars and seeing the sparks fly as it was crossing the finish line first.

If you're interested in top down racing games and the southern theme isn't a turn off then I have no doubt that Reckless Racing is for you. At $2.99 it's a more than fairly priced game that I'm enjoying a lot. I wish I could direct those that are still questionable to a demo version, but there isn't one at present. However I do have a video of the game below. 4.5/5 stars for the best top down racer in the Android Market that I've played.