''Asphalt 3D'' is a 2011

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a motor racing, racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more re ...

developed by

Gameloft Gameloft SE is a French video game company based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for mobile devices, video game consoles, and ...

and published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

. The seventh major title of the ''Asphalt'' series and the first on a Nintendo system since '' Asphalt 4: Elite Racing'', ''Asphalt 3D'' was one of eight 3DS

launch titles Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the gamer, players, and video game culture, surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 ...

. A direct conversion of an

Apple iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

game, '' Asphalt 6: Adrenaline'', ''Asphalt 3D'' includes 17 tracks based on real-life locations and 42 licensed sports vehicles. It features several

game mode In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...

s including

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

support for up to six players using local wireless play. ''Asphalt 3D'' received negative reviews, with much of the criticism directed at poor controls, numerous bugs, poor visuals, and a choppy framerate. It has received compilation scores of 43/100 and 47% on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

and

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

, respectively.

Gameplay and premise

''Asphalt 3D'' is a

, in which the player must maneuver an automobile to compete against computer-controlled drivers on various race tracks. Players earn rewards such as car upgrades and XP points for winning races throughout the game, and reaching higher levels allows them to use better sports cars to unlock. The game features 17 tracks based on real-life locations including

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The games also features over 40 licensed

sports cars A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1910s and ar ...

and

motorcycles A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

, from companies like

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

and

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

. The game features eight game modes, including "

Career Mode A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' define ...

"; "Vigilante", an elimination mode; a ''

Need for Speed ''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games (the developers of the ''Burnout'' series). Most entries in the series are generally arcade racing games centered ...

''-inspired "High Speed Chase" mode, in which the player must outrun

police cars A police car is an emergency vehicle used by police for transportation during patrols and responses to calls for service. Police cars are used by police officers to patrol a beat, quickly reach incident scenes, and transport and temporaril ...

; and a

option for up to six players using local wireless play. The game makes use of the 3DS system's

accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...

, which is similar to the ''Asphalt'' titles on

platforms, and allows the player to control the vehicle by moving the game console like a steering wheel. The game also supports StreetPass, which allows ghost data and race statistics to be exchanged with other players.

Development

''Asphalt 3D'' was revealed at the

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010) was the 16th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 14, 2010, and ended on June 17, 2010, with 45,600 total attendees. The ...

. The game was listed by Ubisoft as one of eight 3DS games they planned to release to coincide with the launch of the 3DS in Europe and North America. The game was released in Japan on March 10, 2011, North America on March 27, 2011, Europe on March 25, 2011, and Australia on March 31, 2011. ''Asphalt 3D'' was a direct

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

of ''Asphalt 6: Adrenaline'', which was released for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

devices. ''Asphalt 3D'' contains 42 cars, three of which are available at the beginning. In an interview, the developers said that they want to include " ..the newest, fastest and most expensive 2011 armodels, including the most expensive car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron" in the game.

Reception

''Asphalt 3D'' has received negative reviews from critics, currently holding an average score of 47% at

and 43/100 at

, based on 30 and 37 reviews respectively. The game was described by critics as "an absolute joke", "a buggy mess" and "truly horrible" due to "terrible

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, stiff controls and poor

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

", along with frame rate issues and glitches. ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

s Martin Robinson stated that "a game can't even be bothered to stream its own pre-rendered intro smoothly". Although praising of its "decent car models", ''

GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...

'' noted that it "suffers from choppy performance, lots of pop-in, laughable animations, and tire marks that float above the road in 3D. It's as if it was made merely to look good in screen shots." Justin Towell of ''

GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and ''Computer ...

'' felt that the "angular scenery are reminiscent of the N64". The review said overall "So what can I say in summary? It's a £39.99 inferior remix of a £2.99 iPhone game with bad sound, bad graphics and shockingly slapdash collision logic. Not only is it the worst game of the 3DS' launch line-up, it's a contender for the title of 'worst launch game of all time'. Worse than Pen Pen. Worse than Tama. Worse even than

Altered Beast ''Altered Beast'' is a 1988 beat 'em up video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. The game is set in Ancient Greece and follows a player character chosen by Zeus to rescue his daughter Athena from the demonic ruler of the under ...

. Do I really need to say it? Avoid." ''Nintendo World Report'' staff writer Josh Max complained of its lack of

tutorial In education, a tutorial is a method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete ...

sections and stated that it "does nothing to represent the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS". In their buyer's guide, ''NWR'' writer Matthew Blundon and director Neal Ronaghan stated that "when there are far better racers available, namely '' Ridge Racer 3D'', why waste your money on an inferior product such as ''Asphalt 3D''?"

References

External links