Racing games are awesome, but no one quite does it as good as 2XL Games. Thankfully, they gave us another one.

2XL TROPHYLITE Rally (iPhone $4.99  | iPad $7.99 )

2XL has given us some of the best iPhone titles we’ve ever seen. From the infinitely great graphics to the awesome realism of their sports simulations. How does their third sports game measure up?

Presentation

By now you should know that 2XL has a reputation for delivering incredible looking games, pushing the iOS devices to their limit (and getting close to PS2 graphics) whether you’re on iPhone or on iPad. This one does not disappoint, and in fact, might just be one of the best ones graphics wise. The environments are all beautiful, and the effects look great. You also have 4 different camera options to choose to your liking.

Controls

The controls actually feel really nice, tighter if you will. It feels like if you were more in control, and more natural, definitely an improvement over the previous 2XL games and over a lot of tilting games on the AppStore. The setup is the usual, accelerate and brake button, and tilt to move.

Gameplay

Gameplay is where TrophyLite starts to fall apart. Sure, the game sounds like it has a lot to promise, 15 tracks, 31 trucks, and the ability to earn real world prizes, etc. And at first glance, the game is actually pretty fun. But as you start to play it more, a problem surfaces. While the driving experience is exhilarating, it almost never feels like you’re part of a race.

Most of the time you’ll be on the track by yourself, mostly because it’s really easy to get on the lead, and stay there without much trouble. Every once in a while you’ll come across a straggler that you’ll pass, but asides from that it’s simply desert as far as the eye can see. It does keep it’s promise at providing a true rally racing experience, without the “racing part”, which is a bit sad because the rest of the game is excellent.

Suggestions

Apart from the racing issue mentioned above, there’s one thing the game also needs a lot: iPhone 4 graphics. If anyone has the possibility to do this it’s 2XL, they’re games are always high quality, and there’s an HD version.*

Conclusion

I have mixed feelings about 2XL TrophyLite Rally. While the controls and presentation of the game is one of the best I’ve seen on the AppStore, this racing game fails to deliver the racing part of the experience. I’d wait for an update.

*Editors Note: At the time of posting this, an update showed up on the AppStore for 2XL TrophyLite Rally saying to add HD graphics for iPhone 4 and iPad (which doesn’t make much sense seeing as how there’s a stand alone iPad version), but after installing nothing seems to have changed, at all. It might be a bug on iTunes that downloaded the wrong version, or it might just be a bug in the update submitted. We’ll keep you updated.