Asphalt: Urban GT 2 review

A battle between motorcycle and SUV would surely end in a mile-long streak of two-wheeled hamburger. But Asphalt: Urban GT 2 is more interested in high-speed hit-and-run arcade antics than realism, borrowing liberally from more established console brands. Whether you're careening around on a Ducati, plowing through obstacles in a Hummer, or streaking toward the finish line in a Mercedes SLR, nitrous is your best friend. Laughing gas can be fired off in one, two, or three canister bursts (see: Ridge Racer), and earned by running over refills, and narrowly missing traffic (see: Burnout).

The slippery and cartoonish physics take some getting used to, but the other ingredients of a modern street racer are in attendance: loads of cars to unlock, performance parts to purchase, visual options to swap out, and the constant threat of police intervention. The huge number of races range from duels and checkpoint elimination trials to vanilla three-lappers and cop pursuits, and they'll keep you scorching pavement for hours, in settings as diverse as the hills of San Francisco and the tank-studded streets of Dubai. It doesn't hurt that this cartridge sports some of the snazziest graphics we've seen from Nintendo's under-powered handheld.