DrawRace 2 review

What a difference two years make. The original DrawRace created a new style of racing for a new control scheme that offered real precision – but it did so in a bright and cheerful cartoony style. DrawRace 2 makes it look like an amateur effort. Everything from the piano track that plays over its start screen to what lies beyond is comprehensive, exquisitely tuned and polished to a fine shine.

DrawRace's basic concept remains, but everything around it is overhauled and expanded. You draw a racing line around a track for two laps, drawing more slowly to brake, then watch the race play out, contributing directly with a boost button. It's a control scheme of great subtlety, but the magnificent thing about it is the audio: you can hear each turn and oversteer as you're drawing the racing line, a guide of screeches and smooth purrs that offers big rewards if you correctly follow it. It elegantly counters the great touchscreen conundrum - that your finger often obscures the very thing you're trying to control.

The singleplayer career mode is truly gigantic, of Trials HD proportions, and the constantly unlocking cars and tracks for multiplayer lend playing on your own a meaty and rewarding challenge. In multiplayer things are even better: asynchronous racing with friends is DrawRace 2 at its very best, a simple system of exchanging ghosts playing across multiple tracks at once that plays to the strengths of the format perfectly. Possibly even better is the World League mode, which features skill-based matchmaking, an irresistible skill graph, a wealth of leaderboards and killer stats that rank you in context.

DrawRace 2 isn't just everything a sequel should be – it's more. DrawRace was a solid foundation, but what RedLynx has created here goes far beyond what is usual – or even exceptional – in the industry. It's an essential purchase, a game shot through with brilliance, and one that will live with its players for a very long time indeed. [9]