Project NeXt - Mobile Gaming

Game Title: High Speed 3D
Developer: APetrus
Publisher: Herocraft Mobile
Game Platform: J2ME
Tested Version: 1.0
Phones Reviewed: Nokia N82

Boost Your Speed!

Story:
APetrus, a Ukrainian mobile game developer, was founded in 2005 by Alexander Petrus. The main goal of the company is the development of it's own tools for the creation of premium 3D mobile games for all popular mobile platforms. The company may not be that familiar to you, but their absolutely fantastic game "High Speed 3D" has been awaited by us for a very long time. Guys on the street, chasing, drifting, crashing, etc. How crazy!!! Now final version comes and what are the difference between the latest demo version and final version? Only we know.


Design:
The engine is developed by the producer, himself, so from the start, we can see the differences among other 3D racing games. To me, it's even better than Fishlabs. From the contrast between "HS 3D" and "Asphalt" by Gameloft, we can clearly see some differences and improvements. HS 3D uses "cubic panorama", so you can view all the angles by changing the camera view. That's so cool! You can also rotate the screen during the game, from 0 to 270 degrees. Thus, you can find a better way to control your car. The graphics are so realistic that the different road situations (e.g.snow, sand, etc.) are just like in the real world.. the snow surfaces are much more smooth than others. Many practical factors are considered, such as traffic jams or other types of vehicles. Different forces influence the car in different degree. That can be proved in the game, but not in Asphalt.

Like normal games, you can play a quick race or a long-distance career. A nice highlight is that you can take a profile photo in your career mode. In the quick game, you will see a great menu, which is just like the PSP (Play Station Portable) menu. Do you know that? I like this design very much. All the environments are shown in this way. You can choose from many different tracks in a particular environment. While in the career mode, you can first personalize your car in the "garage"; from color to the decal, there must be one that meets your satisfaction. There are a total of 10 cars! You can also buy new cars or improve your cars, in this section. After deciding your car, you have two choices to begin your career: "Championship" or "Street Race". In the final version, there are many many more tracks in Career Mode. "Championship" includes 26 tracks and "Street Race" has 27 tracks. All the 53 tracks have 3 stages in each. In some tracks, you can see words "Class B" or "Class C" on the right of the track names. What does that mean? It stands for the class of your cars. Only the cars with the certain class can you play these tracks. So win more before you get them started. After each race, there will be a comment by the developer.

The game runs so fast, and it's not leggy at all. The menu is just like a whirling platform, very cool indeed. The lighting effects are also realistic. In the open air, you can see the sun shining and the color is much brighter, while in the channel, it appears darker and more attractive. The game can work on from low-end phones to high-end phones. Because there's an graphic option, in which you can choose the graphics from low to Super. I use the "Super" during the play. So fantastic!!!

Due to the publishing by Herocraft, there's a new feature in the profile. You can update your score and ranking worldwide and compete players all over the world. The records of each track will be saved and by pressing the "Update" key, you can both upload your high score or get the already-uploaded scores from others. Only one thing still puzzles me. There's a "SMS Bonus" option, I set it on. But I don't know what does it mean. Wait for your explanation, APetrus.


Gameplay:
Easy control system. There is also an option that lets you can change for a left-handed or right-handed person. That's good, isn't it? In the garage, you can change the colors of your car by pressing the "1" and "3" keys; decals can be changed by pressing "7" and "9"; and switching cars by pressing the "pound" (#) key. When you press the right soft key to leave the garage, the loading animation is very cool. (In fact, all the loading animations are the same, and also very cool. ) During the game, you must keep many instructions in mind, because all the keys are used. You can see the "mirror" by the left softkey and use the "2" and "7" keys to accelerate. The "turbos" can be used by pressing "5" or the "star" (*) key, and you can change the camera view with the "pound" (#) key. By default, there is a dash board on the top of the screen, which you can hide by pressing "0". The coolest thing is that after you rotate the screen, the key patterns will fallow you and change automatically. For example, if I rotate the screen 90 degrees to left, the "2" and "8" keys will now control the car left and right movement.

Another difference from other racing game is that you needn't to view your position by numbers. Instead on the very top of screen, you can clearly see your position (green point) among the opponents (red points). It not only shows your position but also tells you how many distances are there between yours and others.


Conclusion:
I like racing games, but I'm not so good at them. I tested many racing games, and those from Fishlabs are definitely good. Now a new star has emerged and it's name is APetrus. I think they will develop more high-quality 3D games, and Fishlabs.. you should pay more attention.

Score:
Story: 90
Design: 98
Gameplay: 95

Total: 96


Trailer:


Read More About this Game in "Mobile Game Previews"