VS. Racing 2 Review

VS. Racing 2 captures the "just one more go" mentality of arcade racing rather nicely. Offering a series of 36 tracks to unlock, there's plenty to do but each track can be finished in a relatively short space of time. Whether players havef five minutes to spare or longer, there should be time to indulge in VS. Racing 2, even despite the rather long loading times.

Using a top-down perspective, VS. Racing 2 focuses more on the racing than the look of each car. Fortunate given that, at the moment, there are only 3 cars to buy with the promise of more to come soon. Each of these cars can be customized as well as have their top speed, acceleration and off-road capabilities upgraded, but the focus is squarely on putting them from their paces.

An on-screen steering wheel is the first port of call for control options. It takes a moment to master but it's not long before it's obvious that it's an inspired step. Players can use just one finger to control the car yet still feel like they're drifting like a pro. I'd have loved to have seen more need for drifting, but what's there is still pretty enjoyable. Tilt and tap based controls are also available but I found that they didn't quite offer the finesse that the steering wheel provided. There's just no need to switch.

The opposition within VS. Racing 2 is just right, with the AI proving to never be too easy or too hard. It's just the right level of challenge.

Further challenge stems from the multiplayer options. Local multiplayer offers an action based slice of fun with the addition of power-ups to add extra fun to proceedings. Sadly, there's no sign of this mode online but users can challenge others to beat their time in a ghost-race. It's just a shame that there's no Game Center support for this entry (despite Game Center adding achievements to the title), instead relying upon email and SMS to send challenges.

Things like this and the low number of currently available cars means there's still work to be done on VS. Racing 2. What is there, however, is a sterling effort. It's great fun and very enticing.