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App Army Assemble: Absolute Drift - A promising arcade game let down heavily by shaky controls

Our community has their say

App Army Assemble: Absolute Drift - A promising arcade game let down heavily by shaky controls
|
iOS
| Absolute Drift

It'd be silly to name a game Absolute Drift if there was no drifting is involved. Whether it's absolute or not, drifting is the primary function to touch on off the bat.

If you've played any kind of racing game you'll know how good it feels to swerve around a corner in a flawless drift, and this one lets you practice to your heart's content.

While we think the game is pretty neat looking, we couldn't resist putting it to our App Army to see what they thought of it. Are you excited? I'm excited...

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Robert Maines (iPhone X)

I went into this game with the wrong expectations, expecting a Super Sprint clone with emphasis on drifting. So, when I started playing I got a nasty surprise: it really is ALL about the drifting.

This wouldn't be so bad if the game controlled well, but with touchscreen controls it feels like you are constantly fighting to manoeuvre the car, not helped by the sluggish response of the car.

Of course, if you persevere you will get better at sliding, but I suspect a lot of people will just get frustrated and give up, which is a shame as it looks rather nice. The sparse graphics and colour scheme have a Mirrors Edge look. Sounds effects are simple and the music is quite catchy. It is also a battery hog as my iPhone X got noticeably warm as I was playing.

If you're prepared to put a lot of time into mastering this game then you might find it a rewarding experience. If you like your mobile gaming in short bursts I would give this one a miss.

Mark Abukoff (iPhone 7)

This game has a very, very simple concept: learn the controls to make your car drift in increasingly difficult levels. Its music is suited to the game, but forgettable. The graphics are ultra simple, but also sharp and appealing. However, the touchscreen controls are very poor and, for me anyway, make it almost impossible to make any headway.

I lost early and often, and because there seems to be nothing else to the game to catch my interest, I quit pretty quickly. It either starts too difficult or I'm just not very good at it. I'd say that if you really enjoy making cars drift in games you might like this one, as that seems to be the entire point. As for me, I drifted away pretty quickly.

Slava Kozyrev (iPad Pro 10.5)

Let me say this straight out - racing games do not constitute my typical gaming fodder. I've got as much as zero interest in the modern car industry and, you guessed it, I do not drive in real life. However, after watching the catchy App Store trailer for the Absolute Drift I felt the rush of adrenaline and hoped that it will bring back sweet old memories of playing Power Hover by Oddrok Oy, which is the closest rep of the racing genre I was mostly successful in.

The above-mentioned trailer made everything look so natural and super easy, but alas not for me. Absolute Drift is too 'drifty' for my taste. It is either me or the controls, because in my case wild skidding and mad swerving was the only drifting I experienced throughout my gaming sessions.

The overall idea, visualization, and audio are among the few things I liked about this game. It saddens me to say, but this piece of Noodlecake is no cakewalk at all and it drove an Absolute (d)Rift between me and the racing genre so much so, that I made a resolution to never try my incompetent hands at racing games again.

If you like racing, you might want to have a look at the Absolute Drift. If not, I recommend drifting in some other direction.

Roman Valerio (iPad Air, iOS 11.4.1)

The game looked incredibly classy and utterly promising when I was watching the trailer, but in reality it turned out to be a 'meh' experience. Alongside shooters, racing games are my least favorite titles and Absolute Drift failed to endear me to this adrenaline-pumping genre.

I found the buttons to be too small and ill-placed on an iPad screen, whereas neither virtual joystick nor tilt controls satisfied me as well. Besides, after half an hour of reckless driving and futile attempts at becoming a pro drifter my precious iDevice got so hot that I could easily cook some eggs and bacon on its backside.

Last, but not least, the creators of this racer mention something about zen mode on the dedicated App Store page, but I could not relax a bit during my gaming session as I was constantly struggling to get a car under control. For serene, peaceful, and chilled moments I would rather opt to fire up any of the Alto games.

All in all, we have got quite an ambiguous title that, in my opinion, can be recommended strictly to racing fans or gamers who are ready to put up with the nerve-wrecking controls.

Steve Clarke

Maybe it's just too hot here in London at the moment, but I don't have the patience to master Absolute Drift's fiddly control system. I'm sure there's subtlety and nuance to be found here, but after 20 minutes bouncing off the walls I closed the app and went back to hugging my fan.

I love the music and dig the matchbox-style car, but those do not a game make. It's a no from me.

Oksana Ryan (iPad Pro)

If I'd been able to master the controls of this game I would probably have had some fun, but alas it was not to be. I'm not sure if it was because I was using a large screen, but I really couldn't conquer the steering.

I did drift, the only problem was that it was never in the direction I wanted to go. I can't really say much more about this game as I closed it in utter frustration. As they say - life's too short.

Ed Davis (iPhone 7 and iPad 6)

I found that the screen size on this one played no role in the gameplay. It's a very simple game where you have to simply drift to compete challenges.

The concept is intriguing, but the touch controls let it down. Though they're simple, like everything else in the game, I feel that a physical controller would work better for this. I like the game and it feels like they have the drift physics pretty well done, but it is by no means easy or for the casual mobile gamer.

Paul Manchester (iPhone SE)

This game looked so great from the videos and screenshots, and reminded me of some of my favourite top down racers. Unfortunately the game really hasn't ported well onto mobile with tiny menu icons and awkward in-game touch controls.

The game looks nice and runs very smoothly which takes some frustration away, but not enough for me to want to stick with it. Let's hope they can fix some of the control issues in future updates...

Quincy Jones (iPhone 8 Plus)

An absolute mess of controls! Whatever the game could be is lost on the fact that the controls are so annoying that it's all you'll remember - everything else is forgettable

There nothing to see here, move along or drift away.

Rohit Bhatia (iPhone 8)

This game is gorgeous, no doubt about that. The FPS stays constant for the most part, but the main issue is that its controls just suck. I tried to get into the groove, but the controls were the main obstacle for me.

The fixed stick doesn't help nor do the virtual buttons. I think the developer rushed it. The controls are not precise at all. I love top-down car games, but I would rather recommend the Reckless Racing Series. So, avoid this until the controls issues are sorted out.

Jim Linford (iPhone 7)

I came, I saw, I tried drifting, but oversteered. Then I messed around with the controls. On a large enough area I can drift. Yet, on the tutorial levels I keep driving into the walls.

I think the responsiveness of the car and the control inputs need tweaking. I tried virtual joystick and left/right buttons, but no amount of changing control settings helped me out.

It's a shame as I really wanted to get drifting, but I end up spinning out. I wanted an arcade-style drifting experience with tight controls and instead I found the cars handle too badly to make this fun.

I understand a learning curve is needed, but I can't get the sweet spot. The controls feel broken to me which is a shame. Fix them and the game will be great.

Dries Pretorius (iPad Air)

I love mobile racers, from the meticulous Jet Car Stunts through Reckless Racing. I wish I could say that I recommend Absolute Drift only to those with MFi controllers, but for me the problem is not exclusively control-based, even if that is the game's greatest hurdle.

Perhaps it's because I've been spoiled for skill-based driving games by NFS Porsche and Real Racing 3. Unless presented with a novel concept with tight physics and controls, I prefer the messy, violent scramble of racing, knocking my opponents into obstacles and flooding my dopamine network with shrieks of delight.

So, the activity of performing precision moves in a solitary way with a little car that controls with Surgeon Simulator levels of molasses-like detachment just didn't gain traction with me. I recommend you skid past this one.

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Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.