Earlier this week, Zynga and NaturalMotion announced that CSR Racing, a mobile game downloaded more than 130 million times since its release in 2012, will be getting a sequel, CSR2, due out sometime later this year on mobile and tablets.
Along with the announcement came the very first images of the game as well as a video, captured on an iPhone 6, showing off one of the cars included in the game. No actual gameplay has been shown yet but what has been unveiled looks promising.
CSR Racing shifted focus from the racetrack to the showroom, with the games main draw being the ability build a collection of supercars and deck them out from top to bottom, inside and out. The only racing gameplay came in the form of a player taking control of one of their suped-up automobiles during a drag race, the player is responsible for shifting gears at the right time. This hasn’t changed much in CSR2 but NaturalMotion have seriously upgraded the games attention to detail in the garage with the user having the option to choose different trim settings, paint jobs and interior materials, right down to the stitching in the seats.
To reiterate the level of dedication NaturalMotion has for CSR2, they also revealed that they have hired developers and designers who have worked on Need for Speed, Burnout, Forza and DiRT to help give the mobile game an edge over the competition. Speaking to the Guardian, NaturalMotion boss Torsten Reil said, “We don’t just want this to be a graphics-fest for the sake of it. We’re using the visuals to be believable. We want you to feel that this is real.” As for the companies bold claim that this game will be “not just the best-looking racing game on mobile, but the best-looking racing game full stop – including console,” only time will truly tell.
Torsten Reil wasn’t very forthcoming on CSR2’s gameplay, offering only that “there will be new controls and mechanics, but we are not revealing them yet. It’s still about drag racing, and it’s still an arcade game at the end of the day. The believability and authenticity is the car ownership thing, but the racing is where the fun comes in.”
CSR2 will be available on iOS and Android in select countries in the coming weeks, giving NaturalMotion the chance to use player feedback to tweak and tighten the game for its global release later this year.