Talk:2019 Spring Update/@comment-27980511-20190503231313

My fellow players.

Now as most of you know, I usually write TPW blogs about the things we find wrong (and right) about Asphalt 8.

But this car, this one car, the infamous Lamborghini Centenario LP 770-4 has garnered so much attention that it is deemed worthy of a review. Or in this case, a second review after I failed to obtain it in spectacular fashion during its debut.

Now that I have managed to attain it this time, despite being worried at the sure prospect of failure yet again (because 4 months isn't really a lot of time to build up the resources that this Lambo demands) I will share my now hopefully better-informed experiences with you in this mini-TPW.

Starting with the cons, of course:

😠  THE CAR 

Created in honor of the founder's centenary, the Lamborghini Centenario is groundbreaking on many levels. A lot of games like Forza, Need for Speed, CSR Racing to name a few are introducing this car to their ever-expanding lists. Now Gameloft has taken a piece of that pie and brought this car to us (starting with Asphalt 9).

And for collectors out there who love Lamborghinis, this is playing on our temptations in a big way. And if you're one of those racers who absolutely must have this car at all costs, it can be all yours - at a hefty price.

We're not talking affordably cheap like the Asterion here or the pre-Tokens Gallardo OR  Veneno either. This car will break your bank in more ways than one, be it your in-game supplies or your wallet.

😠  THE RIDICULOUS EXPENSES 

It's no secret that this R&D was perhaps the most expensive we've ever seen. For a lot of casual players, winning this ride would have been next-to-impossible on the first attempt.

A lot of the details are covered on the main page above so I won't go into that. But what is worth mentioning is the newly-increased PRO Kit requirements and the phenomenal prices hikes on the Level 5 MAX upgrades (they now cost 2,500 Tokens EACH!!).

So if you didn't invest substantially on the first go, it's now much harder to keep up with the demand. And by "substantially", I mean having your car as close to MAX+PRO as possible.

A lot of players (myself included) worked on the strategy that we'd make it to at least Test 40 to get all the mini-kit Boxes, upgrade the Centenario as much as possible and repeat the R&D's revival, using extra Boxes from the first 40 Tests again.

Only now, we've discovered that plan has been sabotaged by the Fast Lane Update. The car needs more parts than ever before, but the Event's revival still gives out the same amount of parts as before. So even if you get further in the R&D on your second try, you'd still fall short.

The only way to seriously have a chance at winning this ride is to be pretty much drowning in Credits, Tokens, Engines and S-Class parts. And yes, while absurdly difficult, it is actually possible to win this thing without paying a dime if you know what you're doing.

BUT, this is NOT a car for those who are faint-hearted or lacking in all of the things I just mentioned.

Oh, and skills will be needed too (especially from Tests 40 onwards) and plenty of luck!

😠  THE EVENT 

R&Ds are already not the most user-friendly type of Event by design. If you have a job, school, kids, commitments, etc., you'll need to master the skill of time-planning. With that in mind, comes resource planning.

From both my attempts, I learned that if you have at least 8,000 Tokens per try, you should be good with minimal mistakes.

It's got the highest number of Flawless Tests ever seen (16!!) and without a doubt, these will make or break your entire experience. Even the Main Goals that don't require them explicitly still need you to race with absolute perfection.

The Time Attacks don't make things any better, and then there are some combinations of Flawless & Time Attack Tests. I started this Event with just over 7,500 Tokens in my pocket hoping to spend less than I did last time, and the Fast Lane Festival's comeback was a welcome surprise.

I still ended with only 1,150 Tokens left (last time it was 1,255!!) mostly because I had to open Labs 3 and 4 a day earlier due to my busy schedule. So that was 1,000 just for opening Labs, and 4,400 for skipping AIs 52 and 60.

Plus all of the Key Sets bought and occasional Auto-Passes too. Some of those Time Attacks were actually impossible (one of these is in French Guiana and it needs Flat Spins which undoubtedly can slow you down).

Guess that Vulcan dream has been pushed back yet again, hell, maybe I'm never going to get that car.   

😠  THE UNRELIABLE SERVERS 

This doesn't often happen, but it's occurred enough times to warrant a mention.

Players report server problems during Events that end up costing them the vehicle on some occasions (IIRC this caused a lot of racers to lose the Egoista on its revival).

And the same thing happened earlier this week, when a lot of us would be between Labs 3 and 4. Then surprise surprise, server is back up and running normally when you only have 1 day left with 3 days worth of Tests still remaining.

We can't afford to lose any precious time in Events like these, especially during the hellish Lab 4. And unfortunately, Gameloft doesn't even consider giving players an extra day or two to compensate for their lost time.

Because of these potato-powered servers, syncing issues are the order of the day here. My win was only secured by shelling out 2,500 Tokens on Test 60 (something I really wanted to avoid unless EXTREMELY necessary) but my results were never synced despite restarting the game and clearing my cache.

So you gottta make sure that you have enough Tokens to surrender if the servers decide to go down. And there's a very good chance that will happen at the worst possible moment.

And now, the middle of the road stuff ...

  😐   THE EVENT (AGAIN) 

I know we covered this one in the above sections, but this is to do with the fact that we have an Event that gives you at least a 1% shot at getting the Centenario.

Given a choice between forking out 18,000 Tokens just to buy it BEFORE applying any upgrades, and an absolutely soulless R&D where the car is essentially "free" if you don't consider paying for Key Sets and Auto-Passes to be a thing (read: lie to yourself), I would begrudgingly take Option B any day.

R&Ds are a test of your preparedness and dedication, and bailing out on a much-wanted prize can be discouraging. But even if it means you can use the debut Event to build up your resources for the revival, it's good that we have that option.

Or we could have the Centenario be like this latest German offering, and we all know how that one turned out ...

And here's where they did it right ...

😁    THE EVENT (YET AGAIN) 

This part is thankfully down to the fact that the Centenario's R&D did not get released as an Asphalt Moments Event. Since these are now exclusively for VIP members, that would mean the revival would be off-limits to free-playing racers.

I'd hate to imagine how much that would suck if I had dumped a ton of supplies on this car and been denied the chance to try again because I haven't spent a cent on this game.

That alone would probably make me play the game much less, or straight-up quit entirely. This was also a test in itself to see just how much the game could push me on a free-playing approach.

So I'm especially proud that I have been able to manage my resources carefully to make it happen.

Now I can't speak for the 2nd revival, but given what happened with the Shaving Blade, we can only pray to the RNGs that the Centenario doesn't go down the same path.

😁    THE CAR (AGAIN) 

Without a doubt, they modeled this car quite impressively. While it doesn't have the ultra-realism you will see in Asphalt 9 and Forza (hell, even Real Racing 3!) it is still a beauty to behold.

The Centenario handles like a dream and has very good Nitro efficiency. Its launch isn't half bad either, but one still needs to watch out for crazy-fast accelerating opponents like the McLaren X2 and MP4-25.

So if you're able to afford it at a reasonably small dent to your bank AND you're a fan of Lamborghini cars, it's totally worth getting. Otherwise, steer clear of this one (especially in Multiplayer races, it will give you a hard time!).

It's another viable rival for the likes of the Apollo IE, McLaren X2 and most of the monsters that can hit speeds in excess of 500kph, and a great-performing candidate at that.

Where some of the other cars like the Hommage or SLK SE have major weaknesses like bad drifting radii or terrible Nitro durations, or its S-Class sibling with its Elite status problem, this car remedies all of those problems (except, of course, the ridiculous cost to get the damn thing!)

Also, would it KILL Gameloft to introduce more color options for the Centenario like they do in Asphalt 9? I mean, it's possible they're going for realism, but hey, this is Asphalt 8!

Who needs realism when cars and bikes can do crazy airborne stunts that would be extremely dangerous in real life? We already have a few cars with unofficial color options in the game, so why stop there? And why not add a working spoiler while you're at it?

🤔 IN A NUTSHELL

So all in all, a bittersweet victory here. RIP to 13,000 Tokens over the 2 Events.

Even more sour tasting than the 488 Pista's grueling Championship. A weird feeling of accomplishment mixed in with a feeling of emptiness - or more accurately, a feeling of getting ripped off.

This car is only worth getting if you have the resources AND are a big Lamborghini fan/collector. And that's a pretty BIG "if".

If not, there are other somewhat cheaper and almost equally strong competitors you can get to rival this car at those high-end brackets.

I only went for it because I had dumped all of my Free Upgrades on it and upgraded a few other cars to make that happen. So I was not gonna let it slip through my fingers a second time.

Hope you enjoyed this brief review on the Lamborghini Centenario. What experiences did you have on your second run? Did I miss something in my mini-blog? Share your thoughts!

- ShinnyShin

P.S. - Some further reading for you all :

List of games featuring Lamborghini Centenario LP 770-4 : http://www.igcd.net/vehicles.php?make=Lamborghini&model=Centenario

''The above is a database collection of every Centenario model ever included in any game of any platform, both default content and DLC content. ''