Review: Monkey Racing
Monkey Racing enters an App Store which is absolutely loaded with racing games. Realistic simulators, casual drift racers, arcade combat racers, kart racers⦠no matter your preference, there is a racing game to fit it. Even better news for controller fans, a large selection of these games support game controllers. So against this landscape, where does Monkey Racing fit? Can it carve out enough of a niche for itself to justify a download, or is it destined to be lost behind a sea of Asphalts and Angry Birds?
Lets start with what this game is. Monkey Racing fits solidly in the causal racing department. The game auto-accelerates, braking doesnât really happen, forget about drifting and slipstreaming. Winning in Monkey Racing is about careful steering into pickup drops, intelligently timing attacks and abilities, executing pit-maneuver style takedowns of opponents, and making it through the end without letting your opponents do the same.
To a hardcore racing gamer, this might seem a bit simplistic. Personally, Iâve always been a fan of this type of racer, though. Strip out all the gimmicks, licenses, and IAP of the modern racing game, and youâre left with gameplay that straightforward enough to pick up and play on the go, while offering a true âevery little bit countsâ challenge for those looking for perfection.
In a lot of ways, this stripping out of unnecessary gameplay complexity feels reminiscent to Angry Birds Go; Rovioâs MFi controller compatible casual kart racer. But Monkey Racing brings some significant differences to a similar foundation; some good, some not so good.
Graphically, Monkey Racing feels pretty much exactly like it is: an indie game. While thereâs nothing inherently bad with the graphics, itâs clear that graphic design isnât the strong suit of this developer. Textures are somewhat bland, environments lack distinction, the monkeys themselves feature some strange shaders that make them feel almost metallic or plastic. Itâs certainly serviceable, but it lacks personality. This is unfortunate, as personality is something the rest of the game oozes. With that said, on a technical level, there is nothing to complain about – everything flies at a solid 60fps at full resolution on any modern device. For a racing game, this is critical
Sound design, much like the graphic design, is serviceable but lacking in personality. The monkeys make monkey noises, the cars make car noises. The soundtrack consists of one (admittedly good) rock style song, endlessly looping throughout every level. The monkeys make stereotypical monkey noises, but itâs a far cry from the personality imbued by the birds in Angry Birds – the benchmark in building a game with personality for a mobile audience.
While Monkey Racing may be lacking in personality in the graphics and sound department, one of Monkey Racingâs strongest suits is the the level of customization offered. Simply put, the options available are staggering. You can customize your vehicle with a variety of parts, each of which impart a different design to your vehicle. You can outfit your monkey with a variety of costumes and accessories. Everything can be painted to your liking. The extensive customization options available here allows you to imbue some personality of your own into the game, which goes a long ways towards making up for the lack of personality in the graphics and sound design.
Controller support is fully implemented, both in-game and in the menus, and all available MFi controllers are supported. The game automatically detects connected controllers, and the UI accommodates them both by removing virtual controls and by indicating which physical buttons to press to activate a given ability. Controls themselves are responsive and intelligently mapped – no complaints here. The only off note is the menus themselves, which feature a confusing highlight effect for where the cursor is located that is seemingly different than what the selected button is. But still, considering how many games donât feature menu control at all, I canât complain.
Ultimately, I find myself repeatedly comparing Monkey Racing with itâs closest competitor in the casual downhill racing front: Angry Birds Go. The two games are built upon similar mechanics, and feature similar gameplay. The points of divergence between the two enlighten much about who developed them: Angry Birds Go is an extremely polished, detailed, beautiful game with a catchy soundtrack, creative level design, and perfect texture work. It also full of spam ads, in-app purchases, wait timers, product placement⦠it even tries to make you buy physical toy racers to compete with. In every way, it is the work of a major game developer trying to squeeze out every inch of profit to placate VC investors.
Monkey Racing is the anti Angry Birds Go. While itâs fundamental gameplay is solid, this is a game obviously made by an indie studio. This is reflected in the graphics, music, and sound, all of which are repetitive and uninspired. At the same time, you are NEVER pressured to buy anything, you are NEVER force-fed ads. There are no sponsored products from State Farm. There are no plastic monkey toys for you to buy at your local department store and scan into the game. What you see is what you get: a competent racing game at a fair price.
Whether or not you should buy Monkey Racing depends largely on how you feel about these differences. If you donât mind being âmonetizedâ by large corporations who view games as a way to build a user-base to sell to advertisers, youâll probably be better served by Angry Birds Go. If this sounds like hell to you, buy Monkey Racing, and enjoy launching rockets from a monkey-powered go-kart with your conscience intact. Personally, Iâll take an unpolished monkey over ads and timers any day.