Reckless Getaway Review: Frantic Driving With Explosions, Cops, and Ramps

In Reckless Getaway you weave your way through traffic, madly trying to collect coins while avoiding the police and barriers.

The game presents a top-down view, making your vehicle look a bit like a toy. The graphics are cartoony but excellent, with impressive-looking explosions that sometimes fill the screen and send objects flying every which way.

Controls are simple: You steer left or right to dodge obstacles while attempting to collect as many points as possible. You rack up points by grabbing coins, jumping ramps, and ramming or overtaking other cars. A point counter in the top-right corner shows how you're doing, as does a "star counter" in the top-left corner. Stars fill up as you accumulate points, unlocking additional chapters.

Each chapter contains four courses that share a common theme (suburbia, icy roads, and so on). You must play the courses in order, finishing each course to play the next one. Finishing all the courses in a given chapter doesn't always unlock the next one: You also need to earn the appropriate amount of stars for the next batch of levels to unlock. Earning them isn't easy--I rarely finished a course with more than two stars, despite hours of gameplay. You might need to make multiple attempts before you earn a perfect score on a single level.

Reckless Getaway has a variety of modes, each with its own set of objectives. The "Getaway" mode, the main mode of the game, can become frustrating after a while. Here, your objective is to rack up as many points (and, by extension, stars) as you can while avoiding the police. I found myself playing the same levels over and over again, repeatedly failing to get the stars I needed to unlock further content. Fortunately, the game has another mode called "Wreckless," in which you drive a big truck and earn points for destroying other cars. The courses are the same, but the action is much simpler, so I was easily able to score three stars on many of the levels.

Reckless Getaway can be frustrating at times, but if you're looking for fast-paced arcade action with explosions, cartoonish 3D graphics, and satisfying aerial action, this game will not disappoint.

We tested this app using a Samsung Galaxy S II running Android 2.3.7.