So I was scrolling my way through games on the Switch store to see what interesting things that they have there for free. I came across Asphalt 9: Legends.
From the trailer it reminded me of one of my favorite old games, blurr, an old racing game with the feeling of Mario Kart. With that in mind I downloaded it and got myself very excited.
I’ll preface this with the fact that I don’t usually go for racing games. Mario Kart, sure that’s fun. Anything else and I tend to lose interest very quickly. Asphalt 9 did turn out to have that same feeling.
Right from the get go I was hooked. It wasn’t actually like Blurr like I was hoping it would be but it still was a lot of fun! The controls are easy to pick up and there is the ability to completely wreck the other vehicles you’re racing against.
The controls are usually the main thing that destroys me in a racing game. No matter how hard I try I end up looking like a ping pong ball just bouncing all around. These controls were a lot more straight forward and manageable.
Drifting feels controllable and easy enough to manage. I still find myself smashing into the odd wall but that’s bound to happen.
“Free”
Now this is something that I feel I should mention before anyone gets themselves too excited for a fun racing game. While it is free to play, there are a lot of reasons that one could convince themselves to spend money fairly easily.
You earn vehicle cards (as well as some parts cards) from random card draws. You get one free one a day as well as the ability to earn more through races. OR you can spend real world money to take a chance and see what you get. You could even take that one step further and just buy the car that you’re looking for. While I feel like that would take a lot of the fun out of the game, to each their own.
Each car also has a limited fuel supply. This fills back up given time BUT you can also choose to refill it immediately with the use of real world money. A small cost purchase but you can burn through the fuel fairly quick so it would add up.
There’s a number of other things that you can spend your hard earned cash on as well if you see fit. Personally I don’t like in game purchases ever and generally just delete games that support them. Asphalt 9 has done a great job of making the game feel fun and fair even without buying anything at all. As long as you’re willing to wait it out an work for what you want.
Bypassing the cost
There’s some time that goes into learning how to best get around the costs in the game to get what you want. Once you’ve unlocked the daily challenges and multiplayer options your choices really open up.
Most of the races award you cards for completing them or coming in under a certain time. They even show what cards you’ll get for doing the task meaning you can pick and choose what you want to put your effort into.
There’s also one daily race that I try my best to make sure I enter for extra in game cash. It seems to be the best way to build up your bank account without spending real world money that I have come across so far. The Heist race.
With a number of other cars and police trying to take you out as well it can be a real challenge. If you can make it through with a decent time you can easily walk away with enough credits to apply a couple upgrades to your car.
I do my best to try and get through that race everyday at least to make sure I’m building up my bank account. It’s been my saving grace more than once.
In Conclusion
For a free game Asphalt 9: Legends offers a lot more than I expects. With a great system to slowly upgrade and improve your vehicles it’s easy to get hooked. The daily challenges and multiplayer races also help to make you feel like you’re not just playing alone all the time.
Although it is “free” there are in game purchases available. As of yet it seems as if the whole game can be played without spending any real world money as long as you’re willing to spend the time and effort.
Worth a try if you’re looking for something new to play. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t tend to like racing games.
