Same here. I’ve spent way more time invested in the PC version than I probably should, but even with some really dumb design elements there’s a draw to this game that has me hooked. Even on my older PC the game looks really sharp and runs incredibly smooth, which is important for such a fast twitch-style racer.

As far as I know, this is a direct port of the iOS game, just with a revamped HD engine and supposedly camera and controls “fully optimized for PC.” The whole career unification across single player and multiplayer is also supposed to be new, and there is one new track. I would imagine playing the game with an actual analog stick controls better than touchscreen, but other than that the game seems tailored for mobile play.

Leftover cash converts to fame points in the PC version too, but as you say, the game doesn’t explain the benefits of rising in fame level. I’m at 98% career progress but only level 11 in fame which only appears to be maybe a little over halfway up the ranking bar, but have no clue what’s left to do. On the Steam version there are achievements tied to reaching certain fame levels, but that’s about the only purpose it serves that I can tell. A simple option to be able to bank cash for later just would have been nice to cut down on having to start over from scratch with each new car.

If you’ve already played it to death on iOS, I probably wouldn’t bother with this version unless you can pick it up for a couple bucks during a Steam sale and want a ton of achievements to shoot for.

Part of the mindless grind to leveling cars and weapons makes perfect sense for a quick pick up and play mobile game. Having that same experience on a PC seems indeed more like a chore than fun.

When multiplayer was patched into the iOS version I tried to play with a co-worker, but even over wifi sitting next to each other, we had trouble getting a game to work.

I would be curious to see how much better the game looks on a full screen because the game looks pretty awesome on the iPhone. That being said, I can’t help but think that the touch controls (ie, steering and manually firing weapons) would feel odd if Remedy did an almost direct port to the PC which is sounds like they have.

As for the money not being saved between races, in the iOS version, after repairs and/or upgrades are topped off, any extra money earned goes toward increasing your fame. Why having a higher fame is never explained, but I’m guessing there is some sort of achievement for having such a high notoriety.

While I’d love to play the PC version, I can’t help but think that some games are best played on their original (or at least the modern original) platform.