AiRace: Tunnel

Genre: Arcade / Flight Simulator

Players: 1

.

Review:

AiRace: Tunnel is an Arcade-style Flight Simulator released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010, and later grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when the Nintendo 3DS released. Releasing a few months before AiRace on the same platform, AiRace: Tunnel offers a more simplified experience, having players flying down a cylindrical tunnel and trying to avoid obstacles as long as they can.

The presentation here is good, given the game’s age and the tiny 16MB size limitation of DSiWare games. While the game’s low-poly 3D environments may not impress by today’s standards, it’s still impressive what this game was able to squeeze out of its limited hardware at the time. This is backed by an energetic but forgettable soundtrack.

Unlike AiRace, AiRace: Tunnel is extremely simple and repetitive. There aren’t other racers, no multiplayer, not even all that much variety in tracks. You’re just flying down a tube, trying to fit through gates that pop up at regular intervals.

I’ve got to be honest, having played this game after AiRace, I found this to be a huge let-down – the impeccable track design of that game is nowhere to be seen here, nor the Kart Racing sensibilities – in fact, this game isn’t really about racing at all, it’s more about endurance. The result is an experience that isn’t bad, but it’s a pale shadow of the game that would come after it.

At a mere $2, AiRace: Tunnel may still be worth a look for players looking for a simpler game to kill a few minutes on occasion, but it’s just hard for me to recommend this game when you could instead be getting AiRace, a much better game with many of the same elements. Given the limited amount of space your Nintendo 3DS has for DSiWare games, I’d say most are better off skipping this appetizer and just going for the main course.

tl;dr – AiRace: Tunnel is a simple, Arcade-style Flight Simulator that is a simplified version of the gameplay that’s in AiRace, lacking that game’s excellent course design and fun Racing game elements. By comparison, this game is repetitive and it feels redundant when there’s a much better obvious alternative. This is still a decent game, but you’re far better off getting AiRace instead.

Grade: C

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Andy Miller, Exlene, Johannes, Homer Simpin, Ilya Zverev, Eli Goodman, Kristoffer Wulff, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Francis Obst, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}