CSR Racing

CSR Racing
The App icon of the iOS and Android game CSR Racing in its 3rd Anniversary depicting the Lamborghini Huracan.
Developer(s)	Boss Alien Ltd
Publisher(s)	NaturalMotion Games
Platform(s)	iOS, OS X, Android, Windows
Release date(s)	June 28, 2012
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Multiplayer, single-player

CSR Racing is a free-to-play drag-racing game by Boss Alien and NaturalMotion Games. In the game, the player takes the role of a new racer looking to make a name for him/herself in a deserted city ruled by five racing "crews". There is now a sequel available on IOS and Android since June 29th 2016 called CSR Racing 2.

CSR Racing was first shown on stage at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 11, 2012^[1] and was released on the Apple App Store on June 28.^[2] It was revealed that the game made over $12 million in a month shortly after launch,^[3] making it one of the top 10 grossing iPhone games of 2012.^[4]

It is available for both Mac and iOS devices.^[5][6]

On April 15, 2013, CSR Racing was made available for Android phones and tablets. It requires Android Gingerbread and later. On October 5, 2013, CSR Racing received a new follow-up called CSR Classics for iOS.^[7]

Gameplay

CSR Racing's single-player component is split into five tiers, with each tier introducing progressively faster opposition and vehicles. To move on to a new tier, the player must race and beat the crew boss for the level. After beating the boss of each level, the player will be challenged to a high stakes rematch. If the player wins the race, they are awarded the boss's car; however, if the player loses, they must give back the gold won from the previous boss race. Unlike a traditional racing game, CSR Racing does not feature steering, braking or acceleration controls. Instead, the game focuses on timing gear changes and use of the nitrous upgrade by tapping the screen, in a similar fashion to a rhythm game.^[8] Races take place across either a quarter- or half-mile distance, depending on the event in which the player has chosen to compete. These events range from repeatable Regulation Races, which are split into three different difficulties (Rookie, Amateur, Pro), to direct confrontations against rival crew members. After a player has beaten a rival crew member, a race cannot be replayed. The game features several other race modes such as "Daily Battle," where the player drives a random car for a single race, and "Restriction Races," where cars must meet certain specified criteria.

Regulation races give the player money immediately. They are divided into Rookie, Amateur and Pro. The Amateur and Pro Regulation Races in tier 1 are unlocked by beating first two crew members in Fangz, Luther and Ale$ha. In other tiers, they are available by default. Their amount starts from $500+ . Their amount can be enhanced by decals, perfect shifts, perfect starts, good shifts and higher tiers.

Ladder races the player's car against progressively tougher opponents for gradually more money. There are 24 Ladder races in each tier. The last three races are considered quarter final, semi-final, and final. These award more money than regular ladder races. Theoretically, a player who wins the finals can beat the crew leader.

Daily Battles are races with a loaned car that can be done several times per day; players win increasing amounts of money if they win every day.

Restriction races imposes a condition to the car for the races. They are available tier 2 onwards but tier 1 restriction races can be unlocked when a player has beaten the tier 5.

In World Tour (T6) a new type of restriction were unlocked which involved all challenges for a certain car required for the crew but involved an extra car which is not from the crew but the manufactrer was of the same country or region. Veloci Crew had the Alfa Romeo 4C, Armada Crew had the Mercedes - Benz C63 AMG and Spitfire Crew had the Jaguar F-Type. Rushmore Crew had the Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca.

Challenge races are unlocked when a player wins tier 4, and blocked when they pass tier 5. These are some difficult and rare races but with large cash prizes. They tend to appear randomly. It is not available for Android.

Car specific races put a single car into the race and are available tier 3 and up. They can be unlocked for all tiers when a player beats tier 5.

Manufacturer races only allow cars from a single manufacturer. They are available only in tier 4.

Crew battles consists of a race against one of the 4 crew racers. By beating them one by one, a player gains access to the crew leader. After beating the crew leader three times, one moves up to the next tier.

Winning races earns the player cash, which can be spent upgrading various parts of their cars, decals that earn cash bonuses per race, or buying a new vehicle from the 'Car Dealer'. There is also a second currency called Gold that the player can use to purchase special cars, decals, skip delivery times for new upgrades, and instantly 'refuel' their cars.^[9] Gold is obtained by leveling up, winning cards or season's price in the multiplayer mode, or as an in-app purchase.

The Power, Weight, Grip and Gearbox stats have a dramatic effect on how the car behaves in races. Heavier cars with low grip will accelerate slowly at first, but will acheve a very high top speed at the end of the race. Examples of these are the Bentley Continental GT V8 (Tier 3), the Trion Nemesis RR (Tier 5) and the Dodge Charger R/T (Tier 2). Cars that have low power and low weight will accelerate off the line quickly, but can be caught by heavier, more powerful cars. Examples of these are the Alfa Romeo 4C (Tier 2), the Alfa Romeo TZ3 (Tier 4) and the Mclaren F1 GT (Tier 4).

Multiplayer Mode

On December 13, 2012 CSR Racing features a multiplayer mode in addition to its single-player campaign. In multiplayer, the player spends money to enter a room of 6 opponents. One must try to beat all 6 opponents to get a "win streak". If one wins 4,5, or 6 races, one wins 1, 2, or 3 "cards", respectively. These cards may contain fuel to race with, free upgrades, cash, gold, or parts to certain "Pro Cars". One has to collect a specified number of card to complete a car; higher tiered cars require more cards to be completed. A car can be completed by spending gold coins if the player is missing car pieces. In multiplayer, players are ranked by RP, or Respect Points. The game is divided into seasons,which last for 14–30 days,and at the end of each season, prizes are awarded based on where a player's position in the leader board, counted in percentage(e.g. top 12%)

After every season, the top percentage of multiplayers get a unique Pro car and/or Gold as an award.

World Tour

On September 18 2014, CSR Racing added a new campaign. This is called the "World Tour". There are 5 different crews for the racers to race. These are Italy, UK, Europe, USA and the International. Beat a crew to win a hypercar (along with the special livery if you won the High Stakes Challenge).

The first crew being the Italian crew, their cars are Ferraris. The LaFerrari will be rewarded after he/she has beaten the crew members. La Stella's LaFerrari will be obtained after the player has won the High Stake Challenge.

After the player has beaten a World Tour crew and obtained the boss cars, they can start The International. All crews will need to be beaten and the boss cars won in order to complete The International.

The International has four events Bull Run, The Hunt, Power Play and Air Strike. The boss is Zoe Cross for Bull Run, Le Sapeur for The Hunt, Ivan for Power Play and Cypher for Air strike.

After completing the 4 cups, La Finale will unlock by defeating the crew bosses from Tiers 1-5. After defeating them, the player can face Nitro in the Grand Finale. If you can defeat Nitro, he is revealed to have been a part of The International crew and the inventor of the CSR Racing. He also fires Roman for messing with the stages. He thanks the player for taking part in the game and as a reward give the Ferrari FXX-K's Pro decals. He challenges the player to race him in a final High Stakes Challenge for Nitro's FXX-K.

Modes

World Tour has three new gameplay modes – you can set the difficulty higher for bigger prizes.

Match Race

Races matched to your current car set-up, the difficulty of the race is not decreased with upgrading your car as in regulation races.

1. Easy, rival's PP is two points lower than yours.
2. Medium, rival's PP is equal to yours.
3. Hard, rival's PP is two points higher than yours (unless your performance is maxed, then rival's PP is also maxed and their shifting is upped to a more challenging state).

Test Drive

Race in a car from the dealer, in this mode the decal bonus is that of the car from the dealer not the one of your car.

Payback

Another chance to win Boss Cars via High Stakes Challenges and race crew members from Tiers 1-5 and World Tour who you have already raced with. They have increased PP Ratings than their previous races in the Crew Battles.

Development

BossAlien was formed by ex-employees of Black Rock Studio (Pure, Split/Second) in June, 2011.^[10] Following the release of the game, BossAlien was purchased by NaturalMotion Games for an undisclosed fee,^[11] and now operates as the company's Brighton development studio.^[12] In January 2014, NaturalMotion was acquired by Zynga for $527 Million.^[13]

Reception

Aggregate review website Metacritic assigned a score of 67/100 based on reviews from 6 critics.^[14]

Media reception to CSR Racing has been generally positive, with Modojo awarding it 4/5 and Gamezebo describing its visuals as "better than some games from the precious console generation".^[15] Other outlets like Pocket Gamer criticized the implementation of in-app purchases, describing the game's gas system as "an unpardonable grasp for cash", but adding that it was "an accessible and fun racing game."^[16]

References

External links

• Official website