Built for Speed: A fun, retro-hued racing game

It’s not every day that we’re lucky enough to find a free Android game as focused on gamers’ enjoyment as Built for Speed. This fun racing game zooms full-throttle toward creating a gratifying experience full of little surprises that appear as you win more and more races. Plus its retro air brings a little twinge to the depths of our sappy hearts.

The tracks in Built for Speed have no other cars to crash into, but that doesn’t mean you’re not competing against anyone else. Making clever use of the “ghost mode,” the game sets you the task of besting other players’ records on the circuits you race on and even shows you their tracks as you try to beat them. A smart resource that takes you right back to the days when Sega Rally was king of the driving games a few console generations ago.

Besides the campaign mode, which acts as a kind of tutorial, there are tons of races to measure your chops against other gamers online thanks to this asynchronous competition. And it’s easy to do thanks to the fact that the controls are so simple: tap right or left to turn right or left. Plus there’s drifting, which is essential for breaking records – and the game reminds you of that fact at all times with messages telling you how long you’ve been drifting.

It’d be hard to get bored with Built for Speed, what with all the available cars to unlock as you accumulate wins, plus all the customization options, tons of tracks, and standoffs with bigshots who put the screws on you down to the last meter. And, oh, it’s even got a track editor to expand the game as much as you want: whether you’re building new maps where other racers can compete or enjoying tracks created by other people.