Tzer2 has ripped into Gameloft's Asphalt 4 for N-Gage (on S60) over on our sister site All About NGage, criticising its lack of innovation and jerky frame rates. The title is even described as feeling "dangerously close to shovelware", with the developers being "lazy". Despite the above, there's plenty in Asphalt 4 for getting an instant arcade racing gaming fix and doubtless the title will sell as well as its predecessor.

"Asphalt 4 is a caricature of racing games: it's put so many special effects and "extreme" features into the game that it's become a bit of a mess. The speedometer might say you're going at 200 km/h but it feels more like 2 km/h. The deliberate blurring that happens at high speeds just reminds you how slow the game is.

And this isn't a hardware problem either. Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart and System Rush Evolution are on the same platform as Asphalt 4, but they have much smoother graphics and they're more fun to play. Why couldn't Asphalt 4 be as good? Gameloft have now had over a year to get used to the new N-Gage, so why do their games still feel so jerky compared to other publishers' titles? Is Gameloft continuing to use some substandard multiplatform development tool which slows things down?"

Read on