We really don’t need any more racing games right? While that may be true, check out this VASTLY improved sequel to one of the iPhone’s original racers…

Raging Thunder 2 ($4.99)

The original Raging Thunder was good but wasn’t great. Soon after that, the Real Racing and the NFS‘s started pouring in. Polarbit comes back to the racing genre stronger and better than ever, ready to meet these big franchises face to face!

Presentation

Originally I played Raging Thunder before there was an AppStore . After playing that and then the official AppStore release, I can safely say that the overall experience has improved. Apart from the 3GS improvements, the game has a great sense of speed, tons of shortcuts, car damage and more.

Controls

It controls as you would imagine from the multiple racing games on the platform. Tilt to steer, tap the brake button to brake, and the boost button to, you know, boost.

Something I hate about some iPhone racing games is when you can’t manually accelerate, and I was going to say something, but I found out I can disable auto-accelerate in the options, which adds accelerate buttons. Control wise, I’m digging RT2.

Gameplay

You don’t need me to explain, so I’m going to skip right over to the different modes. The usual suspects, career mode, instant race (random single race), single race (choose location and car), and a arcade mode where you play as many races as you can before the timer reaches zero.

As you race through the levels you can collect cash which can be used to either buy different cars or upgrade different parts of the current car. One of my favorite parts of the game is the ability to tackle other racers (KA-POW!). Like most Polarbit games, it also includes multiplayer.

And as much as I wanted to come on here and tell you I had a great experience with it, and that it really added gameplay value, my experience with the MP didn’t go too well. Whenever I joined a room it seemed I was all by myself, and the players kept disconnecting. Not really MP if no one is around.

Suggestions

MP fix please? Also the icon needs help. The game looks fantastic and THAT is your icon?

Conclusion

If you’re looking for another arcade racer for the iPhone, Raging Thunder 2 is a really nice addition to your collection. With hopefully a multiplayer mode fix, this game can really elevate itself to be an iPhone racing elite!