Games worth discovering

Unleash the magic on mobile: Disney Speedstorm races into your hands

4K View2023-08-11

Disney Speedstorm is back! And better yet, our addiction to seeing Disney characters hurl bombs and dodge pirate cannons throughout the racetrack has been rewarded with a mobile version. I talked about how great this game was a few months back. And as Disney does its best to infiltrate every entertainment form imaginable, it only makes sense that a game like Speedstorm would make its way to mobile devices. Still, I can’t complain when that transition is so smooth that I’d be convinced the game was initially created for mobile.

Granted, it’s only the soft launch of Disney Speedstorm, but even this launch starts ahead of the pack. The opening “Welcome to Speedstorm” cinematic looked incredible. I’ve talked about the impressive visuals on my PS4, and the mobile version does a great job emulating this and showing off the power of mobile. Maybe, to a fault. I admittedly don’t have the strongest device. Still, even though I experienced some lag, it’s easy to tell that this game will look pristine on a powerful enough machine.

Familiar characters like Mickey, Belle, and Donald return for the mobile edition with all the customizations and collectibles familiar in the console version. Nevertheless, racing controls are far simpler in the mobile counterpart. Driving and pulling off special attacks was simple enough by tapping on the screen, and even boosting at the beginning of a race was easy to achieve. That being said, moves like drifting weren’t as easy to do. I found myself driving through the courses more casually than on the console. So far, I’m impressed with what I’ve seen in the mobile version. However, despite their best efforts, if cross-console play becomes a thing, there is no way I would realistically want to race against someone playing via a console on my mobile.

There were a few other nitpicks I had while playing Speedstorm. User beware, I had trouble downloading and playing the game from the US until I put on my VPN. Keep that in mind if you’re trying to download the soft launch. But otherwise, it played beautifully, and I had a great time. Disney Speedstorm fully launches in September. If you’re a fan of the original, I highly recommend seeing what mobile offers.