Image rights from top: Nintendo, Halcyon Products.
Nintendo has a knack for
churning out game after
game featuring its ever–
marketable roster of familiar
faces. Even if most are great fun, few are
hugely innovative.
That’s a little different with Mario Kart
Tour. While most iOS racing games are
played in landscape, Mario Kart Tour opts
for portrait. It works better than expected
— you get a clearer view of the track
ahead, making it easier to aim at your
rivals and deploy the tools and tricks that
are the core of any Mario Kart game.
Nintendo scores more points with its
control system, which has been designed
Low light performance has
always been a weak spot
for smartphone cameras.
With such small physical
apertures, software is used to reduce
noise and increase exposure after a shot
has been taken. This is what NeuralCam
for iOS does, pretty much exclusively.
There aren’t many features you might
normally find in a camera app — you can’t
even zoom, though on phones with more
than one lens you can switch between
wide and zoom lenses, and also use the
selfie lens.
Auto and manual focus modes are
available, but the main point of the app
Mario Kart Tour
The beloved title boosts onto iOS
Free (IAPs) From Nintendo, mariokarttour.com
Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iOS 10 or later
NeuralCam Night Mode Camera
Let there be (more) light!
$4.99 From Halcyon Products, neural.cam
Made for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Needs iPhone 6 Plus or newer, iOS 12
GOODGREATGameplay is fun, fast and at times chaotic, and
it can be played one–handed.Capture more detail and clearer pictures in
very low light conditions.to allow you to race one–handed, much
like Super Mario Run. Your vehicle
automatically accelerates; you swipe left
and right to steer, or tap the screen to
use a power–up. It works rather well.
The game’s geared towards convincing
you to stay for “one more race”. But that’s
not so you can just have more fun — it’s
so you can spend more money. There are
microtransactions galore, so much so
that your progress often feels painfully
slow without them. You earn rewards at a
pitiful rate, making upgrades feel almost
out of reach without opening your wallet.
It’s a shame, because the gameplay is
great fun, the levels look beautiful, andis capturing better detail in low light.
Holding the phone steady, you take your
shot and then it’s analyzed for around 10
seconds. During analysis the app uses
machine learning and AI to pull out detail
and increase exposure without adding
too much noise. The results are very
impressive, even if the final exported
image is physically a little smaller than
regular iPhone snaps.
If you have an iPhone 11 or Pro you get
already get Night Mode built in, which
more or less does what NeuralCam does.
Though for the many millions of people
who already have a pre–11 model, this app
is a great way to take brighter photos inthe controls are well–optimized. It’s
excellent for dipping in and out of for a
quick race, just be prepared to grind until
the cows come home if you want that
sweet vehicle upgrade.
THE BOTTOM LINE. Excellent
gameplay, but beware the transparent
cash–grab tactics. ALEX BLAKEgloomy conditions. It’s also a bit of
a bargain if it’s something you’re
planning to do a lot.
THE BOTTOM LINE. NeuralCam Night
Mode Camera is a very straightforward
app that really does help you take clearer,
brighter photographs in low light.
HOLLIN JONESmaclife.com DEC 2019 59Tough testing, trusted ratings