➤ Asphalt 9: Legends for Nintendo Switch, the review 🎮

La Asphalt 9: Legends review to Nintendo Switch reminded us, if needed, how fun, spectacular and visually impressive the arcade racer developed by Gameloft.

A little more than a year has passed since the game's debut on iOS and Android devices, and it's nice to see that in the jump on the Japanese hybrid console the authors have not sacrificed anything in terms of content, adding a couple of very interesting features. in this case the local multiplayer via split-screen for two or four players and motion detection controls.

Asphalt 9: Legends for Nintendo Switch, the review

The choice to keep the setting is also surprising free-to-play original and therefore land on eShop for free, with the same tolerance and elasticity characteristics of the freemium model appreciated in the mobile environment.

In case you were wondering, that means you can do the download for free of the game free and try your hand at all the rides you want; as long as you pay attention to the amount of fuel available in the tank of your cars, which determines the possibility or not of taking to the track. Each car offers six attempts that recharge over time, but which can be restored by leveling up (which is very simple, especially during the first few hours) or by spending the game's precious currency, also given in a rather generous way.

Gameplay and settings

Asphalt 9: Legends is a pure arcade, a racer that knows no realism and that involves right from the start in exciting races, which take place within scenery visually stunning and full of dynamic elements, some of which are destructible. The gameplay focuses on the correct use of drifting and nitro: the first, and tricks in general, fill the indicator of the second, allowing us to make portentous sprints forward and score that last overtaking before the finish line.

On Nintendo Switch, the 30-second races appear clearly too short, thought of as they were for use exclusively on the move, but advancing between the seasons of the various chapters that make up the rich career, it happens to also grapple with longer-lasting events, which take advantage of the urban circuits included in the package in their entirety and require us to take a more conservative approach.

If you want, you can get rid of your opponents momentarily by performing a 360-degree rotation or ramming them while sprinting forward with the nitro, or build an advantage by taking advantage of the numerous shortcuts, jumps and alternative routes that characterize each of the scenarios.

In short, there is a fair degree of variety during the action and eight o'clock settings (San Francisco, Scotland, the Himalayas, Cairo, the Midwest USA, the Caribbean, Rome and Shanghai) are revealed in a very progressive way to fill in the best possible way the many events available in the single player mode.

Over fifty cars present must be unlocked by collecting parts of the related projects within specific events, in the context of a very solid progression and only marginally touched by the presence of microtransactions: some auto they are obtained only by paying with hard currency and therefore you have to wait a bit to be able to have them for free.

Extra modes and options

As mentioned at the beginning, the Nintendo Switch version of Asphalt 9: Legends can count on some interesting news, first of all the mode multiplayer competitive via split-screen, which allows two or four players to compete against each other using a single console. A sector will soon join this feature online in real time, but the Clubs are already present with the relative challenges, special events, fast races and all the rich outline that allows, if desired, to carry out the grinding necessary to obtain credits and essential components for the enhancement of the cars. After having increased final speed, acceleration, stability and nitro by spending the virtual currency at our disposal, in fact, we will be asked to recover specific projects in order to continue improving the car.

Once on the track, the substantial difference between this edition of Asphalt 9: Legends and the mobile one lies in the controls. In fact, if on iOS and Android it is possible to play with the controller but always in automatic acceleration mode, on Nintendo Switch you can manage the car as in a normal driving game, using the right trigger to increase speed and the left one to brake or , in combination with the analog stick, start drifting. You can also use the accelerometer to control the steering wheel by tilting the Joy-Con on the one hand and on the other: the system works surprisingly well. The developers brought even the system to the hybrid console TouchPlay, which allows you to automate all the mechanisms apart from the activation of the drift and the channeling in the alternative routes: an interesting solution to let people completely unrelated to video games try the experience.

Graphics and sound

From a technical point of view, the Gameloft title is still very current and has not lost its charm in the slightest. On the occasion of this review we downloaded the application again on iPad Pro to be able to make a comparison: it must be said that on the Apple tablet the resolution is higher and no aliasing or uncertainty occurs in the frame rate, but otherwise we are talking about a conversion done very well, which remains truly spectacular thanks to the abundance of effects used to enrich the scenarios and the cars.

The developers have been able to perfectly mask the limits of a non-extraordinary polygonal count, putting the texture right in the right place and discharging water, rain and motion blur on the screen when traveling along coastal areas at full speed. The final result is excellent especially in portable mode, while on the screen of an Ultra HD TV some kinks come to a head within the aforementioned resolution, but the game is still a great sight. The action is finally accompanied by a colonna sonora signed electronics, very nice if you appreciate the genre.

Comment

Tested version Nintendo Switch Digital Delivery Nintendo eShop Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

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8.5

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Asphalt 9: Legends is confirmed as an extraordinary arcade racer also on Nintendo Switch, and it will be interesting to understand how the original freemium model will be welcomed by the owners of the hybrid console. In fact, we are talking about a rather flexible and permissive system, which allows you to play for free having to submit to very few constraints, enjoying the spectacular and frenetic races of a very full-bodied career, enriched by many extra contents and adapted very well in terms of controls and technical aspect. Also considering the local multiplayer mode via split-screen and the imminent arrival of online challenges, the Gameloft title really stands as a must download.