Full Review

Full disclosure aside, we here at AppSpy are big fans of the Waverace series on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube. Will that bias affect our review of the iPhone's latest jet-ski racer, Riptide GP? Well if it's well made there's nothing to worry about. Let us continue.

The first thing you'll notice upon loading up a race is the game looks incredibly slick. The water is beautiful and everything is nice and crisp. The game automatically accelerates (although you can turn that off if you wish), so the brunt of the gameplay is tilting the iPhone left and right to steer, while touching the screen to brake around sharp corners. While it does take a couple races to get used to, the tilt controls are surprisingly nuanced and you should be weaving your way through the water in no time. Each level has jumps, either off giant ramps or over the tops of deep waves. Tricks can be performed off these jumps by swiping the screen with two fingers in any combination of up, down, left, or right. If these tricks are landed your boost meter is filled, giving you an extra edge to win the race.

As the game contains twelve tracks over multiple difficulties complete with hot lap and championship modes, there's a nice amount of variety and content here for a racer. One sad omission is the lack of multiplayer, although as a small consolation there are leaderboards. Each track has its own music too. While it may be a little techno-y and repetitive for some people's liking, it helps keep the flow of the race going.

As with a lot of racers, the main problem of this game lays in the AI. On the easier modes you quickly reach first place, and create an insurmountable gap between the rest of the racers. On the harder difficulties, boost needs to be used almost constantly just to avoid coming last. Never the less, this is a very well made racer that fans will most certainly want to add to their collection.

App Store Info