Cracking Sands [Polarbit] - $4.99

Racing games, like just about every other genre, have taken off in the AppStore. There’s no lack of them, that’s for sure, and weeding through everything trying to find one or two that will leave you completely satisfied can be quite the task. However, there have been a few studios that have completely nailed the formula and Polarbit is definitely one of those studios. The first Polarbit title I ever got my hands on was Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, and since, their Reckless titles (Racing 1+2 and Getaway) have pretty much secured their place in racer fans hearts. With that, it’s no excuse that fans of the racing genre were ecstatic when their newest racer, Cracking Sands, hit the AppStore a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was riddled with issues, which didn’t do much to help push sales. Last night, an update for Cracking Sands went live, and we felt now would be the best time to write up our review for the game. 

Set in a post global warfare environment where civilization has been reduced to a tribal state and the only thing that matters are death races, Cracking Sands is another battle-focused post-apocalyptic kart racer. There were some issues that a lot of players encountered when the game first came out; The controls were tilt only, so players who are more accustomed to virtual buttons in racers were pretty bummed. Also, the drifting was a real pain, making you jerk your iPad left or right, to the point where you might let go of your iPad, and removing the screen from your direct line of sight, resulting in some very uncomfortable moments. There were also a few people who encountered a bug where tilting left made your kart go right and tilting right made your kart go left. This could be fixed by turning your device up-side-down, which just resulted in more comfort issues. There were also some issues with the sound effects being way too loud, drowning out the music and becoming pretty annoying. 

With the update that hit last night though, most of these issues have been fixed. Virtual buttons for steering have been added, and the jerk to drift has been replaced with the same mechanics from Crash Bandicoot; by pressing and holding your jump button while turning, drifting is now a piece of cake. There are still some players who are having the reverse tilt control issues, but with virtual control buttons now available, it’s not that big of a deal. Along with the new controls, the sounds have been adjusted and although not perfect, it is a lot better than it was. 

Now, onto the content. Cracking Sands is overflowing with it. The single player campaign is packed with 9 Cups and with the exception of the first, they each have 6 tracks (the first cup has 5), for a total of 53 tracks. Even though some of the tracks repeat, they each have different objectives. For instance, there’s your typical ‘finish in the highest place you can’, elimination races where last place is taken out every 15 seconds and head of the pack, where you get 1 point for every 5 seconds that you’re in first place, first racer to 10 points wins. Not only is there loads of content in the campaign, but there are also 5 additional gameplay modes which can be unlocked; Time Trial, Race, Elimination, Head Of The Pack and Multiplayer, each with 28 tracks to choose from. Multiplayer is handled through Polarbit’s servers which, unfortunately, are pretty dead at the moment. After trying multiple times to find someone to play with online, I wound up giving up. Hopefully in the future this mode will be more lively, but I can’t help wonder if it might have been better through Game Center. 

Along with the crazy amount of gameplay content, there are also a whole heap of upgrades and items to outfit and soup up your kart with. There are 20 karts available for purchase with each one having upgrades for top speed, acceleration, control and weight. On top of that, you’re able to outfit it with 4 items. These can either be offensive, defensive or extra utilities. Weapons like a rocket launcher, plasma gun, machine gun and quite a few more can all be upgraded up to 5 times. Items like boost, spikes, flash bang, shield and cloaking device can all be upgraded up to 5 times as well, each having a different impact on the gameplay, finding out what fits with your style of play and maxing it out can be incredibly entertaining. 

The level design is also an area worthy of high praise. With some great twists and turns, shortcuts and holes, there are also spots where the track crosses over itself with the possibility of falling back to another section of the track. If that weren’t enough, while racing, the 5 AI racers will be battling it out, all trying to get in that #1 spot, and going from first to last is something that can, and will, happen on a pretty regular basis. Once you’re shot with an enemy racer’s weapon, it slows you down quite a bit. There are also special items which will hold you back, blind you and generally just try to screw you up. 

Like most other kart racers, there are items that litter each of the tracks. The items here in Cracking Sands charge up your special meter. Once you have energy in your special meter, you can use any of the 4 items that you might have equipped. Here’s the kicker; there are some weapons which can drain your meter and transfer it to other racers, and some that if you’re hit with their projectiles, will just straight up drain it. There are pads that can be found on the tracks that will charge up your special gauge along with the pick-up items, but there’s a certain risk/reward aspect when deciding when and where to use your equipped items which helps to make Cracking Sands not just another mindless kart racer. 

Graphically, the game looks great. The environments and animations are all very well crafted and professionally done, as you might expect coming from a studio that’s pretty much mastered the racing genre. The explosions an other graphical effects for weapons all look great as well, adding to the atmosphere and general feel of the game. The UI is great, even on the larger iPad screen. With two options for the buttons, static and floating, this also helps to make gameplay on the iPad as comfortable as possible. 

Being Universal and with the insane amount of content, the price point of $4.99 seems perfect. There are 19 GameCenter achievements and a full 25 leaderboards helping to add to the replay value and challenge of the game. As it is now, Cracking Sands ranks right up there with SEGA & Sonic All-Stars as one of my favorite kart racers for the iDevice. Hopefully the online gameplay mode will pick up in the near future, because as it is now, that’s really my only complaint. If you’re a fan of racers, especially kart racers, this is one title that should definitely be in your collection. 

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Skyriders [Inverse Blue] - $1.99

Back in July, we had the chance to review Starbounder, a level-based star-ship ‘runner’. Unfortunately, we did have some issues with it; no GameCenter support, and it was a bit bland, needing something more than nice level design to push it forward. Yesterday, we got our hands on Inverse Blue’s (developers of the speedrun plat former, Little Acorns) Skyriders, and were instantly reminded of Starbounder, which also had us wondering if Skyriders could excel where Starbounder didn’t. By the 4th level in the first zone, we had our answer. Yes - by leaps and bounds.

Skyriders puts you in control of an alien in a UFO as you travel across 5 zones and 40 levels collecting stars, boosting, comboing, building up your score, changing polarity and basically just trying to stay alive throughout the insanely well designed levels. With GameCenter integration including 6 leaderboards, one for each of the 5 challenge levels and a total score board, along with 32 achievements, there’s loads of replay value here. At the end of each Zone, there is a challenge level that strings together the last 7 stages in one long level, giving players the chance to build up massively big boost streaks, and huge scores. Luckily, that’s not the only thing pushing players to go back and replay levels for better scores and perfect runs.

The game also includes an upgrade system where you can spend points to increase your Star Grabbing range, Boost Combo Time, Score Multiplier, Acceleration Speed and Shield Power. You’re given one point for every 1 million total points that you score, with each upgradeable stat able to be increased 5 times. Not only does this help to increase your scores and get through the levels a little easier, but with the score increase upgrade, it also allows for replaying of levels again after fully upgrading in order to try and totally max out your score, moving up the leaderboards. 

The graphics, physics, level design and animations are top notch as well, helping to drive the action packed gameplay forward throughout all 5 zones. Like just about all games, the first zone is fairly easy, especially after you get a hang of the changing polarities and physics that feel like they were ripped out of a skiing game, pulling you down to the lowest part of the track, you’ll be able to use the spot on controls and physics in conjunction with the level designs to pull off some pretty slick moves, increasing your score, and upping the game’s entertainment value. The graphics, while pretty generic, are still very polished and smooth. There’s nothing that’ll really stand out, but in a game where what you’re really focusing on is the next jump, how to use sections of the track properly, collecting stars and avoiding hazards, graphic sections of the world, making anything but what you need to focus on your focal point of attention, would become bothersome or just be avoiding anyway. And on lower end devices would also result in lag and frameskips, hurting the gameplay as well. That’s not to say that the graphics here are not special, all of the starry backgrounds and lit up tracks work exceptionally well together, creating a universe that lets you focus on exactly what needs to be focused on. The animations for jumping and speeding up look great, and do add to the atmospheric feeling found within the game as well. 

Aside from the amazing level design, the polarity shifting is really where the challenge for scoring and getting perfect runs comes in. Your character is able to double jump. Each time this happens, the UFO’s polarity changes. At the beginning of each stage, you’re usually able to choose between going after Red or Yellow stars first, this will have a pretty large impact on how you play through the rest of the stage. Once you start, the first star that you collect will give your UFO it’s beginning polarity. In order to collect more stars, there-by carrying on your boosting streak and combo, you will need to double jump, changing the ships polarity color. Each star that you collect fills up your boost meter, which is also filled by running over the boosting pads on the tracks. The larger your combo, the bigger your score, and the closer you’ll get to that next upgrade point. 

With the GameCenter leaderboards, achievements and upgrades driving the replay value and drive to perfect your scores, along with the 40 very well designed levels, options for touch and tilt controls and smooth gameplay, there’s a lot to love in Skyriders, especially being Universal and priced at $1.99. If you’re a fan of platforming racers, or arcade, high-score driven games, it’s definitely one that you’ll need to check out. Aside from Skybounder and Cosmic Cab, this 3D, behind-the-back, racing platforming genre really doesn’t have much competition, but at the moment, Skyriders has set the new standard for what’s expected in future additions to it. What makes it even better? There’s no IAP to be found anywhere within the game. If there was ever a perfect, shining example of an indie made title to model your game after, this would be it. Inverse Blue has done an outstanding job here, and I hope we get to see much more from them as the AppStore grows and expands even more. 

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AeroDrift [Seven Only] - $2.99

Side-Scrolling Racers seem to really have taken off over the last year or so. Bike Baron, DynaStunts, Flip Riders, Speed Blazers, Dream Track Nation, Pocket Trucks, Mad Skills and many others have definitely taken advantage of this. Another title that’s really stood out and offered up some fantastic developer support as well as an immense amount of challenge and replay value is jAggy Race. Released September of last year, jAggy Race has gone through a couple of updates, but none have been as huge as the most recent Version 2.0. jAggy Race is now AeroDrift and also contains quite a few new features, levels, characters and even gameplay options. Developed by SevenOnly, AeroDrift incorporates quite a bit of platforming in with it’s great level design, awesome gravity/physics system and hardcore reflex testing challenging gameplay. 

Originally, jAggy Race included 5 tutorial levels, 15 official levels spread across 3 worlds, each including an extra bonus level. With the AeroDrift update, the game now contains an extra bonus level for the tutorial levels, which has been re-named, making it another world instead of tutorial stages and 2 more worlds with an added 12 levels, bringing the total number of stages up to 36 across 6 worlds. Also, instead of just having jAggy as a racer, you’re able to choose between 8 total racers, each having their own unique look and kart, though no special stats are assigned to them. 

The controls are great, and once you get use to them, they fit the game exceptionally well. You’re given buttons for forward and backwards movement, one in each corner of the lower part of the screen. If you press both it acts as a break, which can also be used in the air. Above both of the movement buttons is a jump button. There is locked jumping height, but that does not really have an effect on the gameplay, especially once you learn how to successfully use the break in mid-air. There is a setting in the options menu which lets you set the transparency of the controls as well, but they are not adjustable. Along with the buttons, you’re able to tilt your device to rotate your racer. This is extremely helpful when using the gravity/physics of the game to slingshot your racer around corners, or when trying to land at a specific angle in order to keep up your speed after a jump. The tilt controls are only accessible in the Pro Mode, which you can enable in the Options Menu. If you do not select Pro Mode, your racer will rotate automatically, and there will be no tilt controls active.

Throughout each track, you’ll be able to whip around corners, using the game’s physics engine to help get to finish line quicker. You’ll also come across lasers which require you to make some pretty tight turns and jumps, as well as saws that both stay in place and move and barriers which you’ll need to jump over, or hit and bounce off of in order to reach other sections of the track. The twists and turns will challenge your reflexes, making you utilize all of the control inputs, and some jumps even make you land and keep racing, but in reverse. Timing is everything, and learning when the best times are to break, jump, and accelerate will be needed in order to complete the stages quickly.

Each stage has a possible 3 star ranking which is time based. There are also 2 sheep medals which you’ll be able to try and grab, one for hitting all of the sheep in a stage and completing the race before time runs out, which is a red sheep medal, and another for missing all of the sheep in a stage and completing the race with a 3 star time, which is the green sheep medal. With the placement of the sheep throughout the levels, both sheep medals provide an insane challenge. This does, however, help add immensely to the replay value, which is already insanely high because of the GameCenter leaderboards and achievements.

Right now, there are 23 leaderboards, one for each of the 23 original stages, each for best time. Unfortunately, there are no boards, and no room in GameCenter for all of the newer stages, and unless Seven Only wants to add a total time board for each of the 2 new worlds, I don’t think we’ll see them add to it. However, the leaderboards that are there, like other games that have boards for separate levels, Mikey Shorts immediately pops into mind, adds a crazy amount of replay value, giving gamers the opportunity to perfect their times and move up the leaderboards a tenth of a second at a time. On top of the 23 boards, there’s also a whopping 52 achievements, most of which will take quite a bit of playing and replaying in order to unlock. The developers have added more leaderboards and achievements, but unfortunately they aren't available due to an issue with GameCenter.

Graphically, AeroDrift is fantastic. You’re able to pick between two view types, Easy Camera, which shows a larger portion of the levels, and looks at the track in more of a 2D fashion. When Easy Camera is not enabled, you will still have a view from the side, but also slightly behind your racer, giving the game a 2.5D view. Both have their own advantages and view-distance, so there is no real perk to viewing the game one way over the other. The environments are very well crafted, with great backgrounds and color pallets distinguishing each world from the others.

Seven Only has done a fantastic job creating one of the most complex and challenging side-scrolling platform racers available for the iOS. Priced at $2.99, but currently on sale for $0.99, and being Universal with GameCenter scoreboard tracking supporting data transferring, it’s definitely a title you should pick up if you’re a fan of these types of racers. Even if you’re not really a racing fanatic, AeroDrift includes some very interesting gameplay that could very well make you a fan of the genre. AeroDrift is a game that all iOS gamers should grab, and will always remain on my devices, being one of my personal favorites on the platform.

**Note; thank you to Seven Only for contacting me, and posting here on the review, about some mis-information regarding the sheep medals, GameCenter boards+achievements and saved data. This review has been revised.

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Granny Smith [Mediocre] - $0.99

It seems like there’s always a great $0.99 game to be bought within the AppStore (especially around the holidays when there‘s sales galore, thank you Labor Day!). This week, one of the most interesting games to hit the AppStore was Mediocre's Granny Smith. Mediocre might sound familiar to some of you, they’re the developers of the great little physics-based action puzzler, Sprinkle [FREE] and Sprinkle Junior [$1.99]. Now, I will admit that I was a bit hesitant before purchasing Granny Smith, mainly because there hasn't been one ‘Granny’ game that has stayed on my iDevice for longer than a couple hours. Thankfully, all of those hesitations were for naught, because Granny Smith is one great little game.

The objective of the game is to race a kid who’s trying to get to 3 apples per stage before you can. You’re both on roller-skates, and can both grab on to certain objects. You’re given two buttons, one for jumping, which also rotates you, clockwise, while in the air, and another which lets you grab onto objects like wires, and handles with your cane. With all characters wearing skates, movement is handled automatically.

Granny Smith contains 36 well designed stages spread across 3 different environments, the Farmlands, the City and the Factory. Scoring is based on how many coins you can collect while racing through each level, as well as how many apples you can snag, and the way you land your jumps. You’ve given more points for a perfect landing (landing straight up) and less for landing crooked. You’ll also earn more points the more times you rotate while in the air. If you’re not going for a high-score, you won’t really need to worry about this, but it does add an extra layer of difficulty and challenge to the gameplay. Along with the great scoring system, after you complete each level, you’re also able to watch a replay in vintage black-n-white with different camera angels and slow motion effects, which is a really spiffy little addition to the game. 

When you reach the City and the Factory, extra characters are unlocked and available to equip in the Tool Shed. You’ll start off with Granny Smith, and then unlock Scruffy the Dog and move on to Stanley, an older man. There are no stat increases or special abilities for the different characters, making it purely cosmetic, but it’s nice to be able to decide who you want to race with. 

Also available in the Tool Shed are consumable items; a helmet which protects you from crashing, banana peels which you can toss behind you to make the kid fall and baseballs which you can use to either slow the kid down while he’s in front of you, or to break through objects before you collide with them, making it so that they don’t slow you down at all. Of course, you are able to purchase coins, via IAP, which you can use to buy these items, but they are not required, and with the amount of coins scattered throughout each level, as well as the ability to replay previously beaten levels as many times as you want, and retry levels that have these items found at the beginning of them so you can stock up without spending coins, chances are, unless you’re having trouble with a specific level, you’ll never even need to purchase these items. 

Graphically, Granny Smith looks and feels very reminiscent of Mediocre’s previous release, Sprinkle. There’s also enough variety throughout each environment that not all of the levels look the same, keeping it from getting boring if you’re stuck replaying a few levels. The animations are also well done, with nice physics and inertia handled while crashing through environmental objects, and smooth jumping/flying through the air animations. The background music is basically what you’d expect for a game with a grandma in it; old-school classical/jazz. With the sound effects lending a hand, it does help to craft an inviting gameplay experience. Luckily, if the music isn’t really you’re thing, you can turn it off separate the sound effects and listen to your own music while playing. 

With GameCenter integration driving the replay value with leaderboards for your total cumulative score as well as boards for each of the 3 environments. Sadly, there are no achievements, but hopefully these can be added in a future update. Also coming in a future update will be more levels. The time it takes to complete the game will, of course, differ from person to person, but it should take between 2-5 hours depending on whether or not you want to collect all 3 apples in each stage, and how good you get with the jump/rotating characters. There’s also the extended replay value if you decide you want to go score-chasing on the GC boards, and with 13,730 players ATM, chances are it’ll take a lot of practice in order to reach the top 25. With Granny Smith priced at $0.99 and being Universal, it’s a great Platform-Racer that everyone even remotely interested in the genre should check out, and with the fantastic support that Mediocre has given Sprinkle, you can be very confident that more levels will come in a future update. 

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RACEOFF: A SIDE BY SIDE REVIEW; MAD SKILLS BMX vs. MOTOCROSS [TURBORILLA] - $0.99

Two games enter, one game leaves; or takes home the checkered flag; or gets your download or something like that..
Turborilla has just released a new entry to their 'Mad Skills' line up with 'Mad Skills BMX'. In playing this awesome new kid on the block racer, I couldn't help but compare with their previously released 'Mad Skills Motocross' title, and thought I would size them up against one another.
To be honest, I am not going to pick a 'winner' out of the two; just provide some similarities and differences, and pros/cons between the two as they are both two of my favorite games on my iPad and iPhone, as this genre has always been one to pique my interest out of all the craziness of titles that make up the AppStore.

 

Controls
Let's get the big one out of the way, the controls. Mad Skills MotoX provided buttons for throttle/brakes, an un-realistic 'jump' button (one of which, I almost never used and still faired quite well on each Division), and most importantly, buttons for lean. There were also options in MotoX for Tilt to lean, and configurable throttle button locations (left/right) and a exclusive option to move the entire control scheme to the center.
In BMX, you still have the option to move the pedaling from either the right/left side. The first thing I noticed was the 'Tilt to Lean' on/off radio buttons. When off, I guess I'm kinda 'slow' to pick it up, but the tilting was done by swiping in the direction you wanted to tilt. This was quite difficult to master, but by the time I was mid-way through the 'Intermediate' division, I had it nailed. You just have to swipe gently/forcefully to get the lean desired.

BMX does not have buttons for anything as it is entirely swiping. My first thought was, well, I didn't get it, considering how masterful their previous buttons worked on MotoX. The more I played with BMX's swiping method, the more it jived, and it works...awesome. The key is to not only swipe for the intended outcome, but hold your finger on the screen at the end of the swipe. You swipe down to gain speed on downslopes and to crank wheelies through whoops, swipe up to jump, and contrastingly down to come down quick once airborne. One essential thing for me was to really utilize that down swipe to gain speed on whoops and downslopes. Both games allow you to throwdown back/front flips, but with BMX, you do so by swiping sideways as opposed to hitting the lean buttons on MotoX.
Both BMX and MotoX have very different control schemes, and for their respective games, work perfect.

Graphics/Animations
BMX puts you on one of the bevy to choose from bmx bikes and has you pedaling and flipping through some of the more spot on physics I have come across on the genre. The realism is out of this world and the retina graphics support that feel as they are as lush and gorgeous as they come. Mad Skills MotoX has seen its share of updates, thankfully, and the graphics are not quite as gorgeous as found in BMX, but they are still top notch. When considering wipeouts, MotoX provides ragdoll crunching animations, where in BMX, the riders are a little more stiff. I see the BMX animations as being more realistic, but the MotoX crashes are probably more fun to admire.

Difficulty/Tracks/Bikes
Turborilla has perfected the ability to allow you to get good with their game progressively, and the difficulty curve is among the best I have seen in any games. In MotoX, there are five(5) divisions, with Division 5 being the easiest. The welcomed option found in MotoX is that they included both an 'Amateur' and 'Pro' difficulty settings, for all divisions, with the former designed for casual players, and the Pro settings for a little more challenge. In MotoX, your competitor could always be seen taking a nasty wipeout allowing you to crank past them with ease and take home the checkered flag. Not so in BMX. The Difficulty in BMX is stiff. Not overly stiff. This time, Turborilla labeled their divisions more accordingly with the first division titled 'Novice' and the last being 'Pro'. BMX however, does not include the option as found in MotoX, for amateur or PRO. This had me replaying some tracks several times over, as to progress to the next Division, you have to take at least 4 wins in your current division.

Another thing to note is that in MotoX, a separate 'Time attack' mode exists allowing you to race your previous time, and also includes a 'Replay' option in this mode so you can watch your race.
Both games also include the Reset button at the top of the screen, which immediately sends you back to the starting gate.

The tracks in both BMX and MotoX are superb, and ramp up in perfect correlation with your current division and stage/level in the division. The Tracks seemed longer in MotoX than in BMX, and even appear to take longer to complete, but maybe that is because that is true to life. BMX tracks are not long whereas MotoX tracks are the opposite. The obstacles you encounter are sick, and only getting more badass as you progress. What I found best about BMX's tracks was that there was not one perfect sequence to crank out through the jumps, as in MotoX I was typically hitting the same jumps or rolling over them similarly as I did on the first lap. BMX gave me more freedom to decide what I wanted to roll over, and what I wanted to huck off.
BMX comes with 40 tracks, with no options (currently of course) to purchase additional ones, whereas MotoX currently has 52 tracks in the game, 20+ free downloadable tracks, and a lot of purchase-able really cool and funky tracks as well, that are well worth the extra .99cents to unlock.
One thing I immediately noticed was that in MotoX your point of view/camera angle is a lot further out than as found in BMX, allowing you to see what's coming up a lot easier than in BMX as in BMX the camera is slightly more zoomed in.

Turborilla does a fantastic job in providing us with cool bikes to choose from, even if we have to pay for some of them. MotoX has 28 bikes, with 6 of them to choose for free, and the rest unlockable at .99cents each. BMX has 10 bikes, with 5 of them to choose for free. One of the funniest out of both games, was 'The Hound'  in BMX which looks like a dude in a Dog suit with an overgrown head. Too funny.

Both games are Universal, and are priced at a buck. Personally, I found the BMX to be slightly more difficult, and therefore more of a challenge and more engaging. The swipe controls take a bit to get used to, but really, it flows perfectly after only a few races. Turborilla has noted in their app description 'Tons of Updates to Come', (ie. GC achievements) and judging by the fact they updated MotoX just a few days ago, I know they have a lot of great things in store for us
Weighing all the things I noted, do yourself a favor; if you don't have MotoX yet, just buy them both! They play differently enough that you will be entertained by either for quite some time. I have had Mad Skill Motocross on both my devices since its release as it is just mad fun, and I know without question that BMX will remain as well.

Check out this Hilariously original Mad Skills BMX trailer below.

Mad Skills BMX Download

Mad Skills Motocross Download

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DMBX 2 - MOUNTAIN BIKE AND BMX - [RANDERLINE GMBH] - $1.99

3...2...1...Crank!! Oh man, those were the days. Growing up on both bmx and motocross 2-wheeled madness, when I saw the new DMBX2 hit the AppStore I was probably one of the first to hit the buy/install button. This is the second installment by Randerline gmbh and a very worthy upgrade.

'DMBX2 Mountain Bike and BMX' is a Universal, iCloud supported downhill racing game that has a equally entertaining trick challenge aspect as well. The graphics are gorgeous, the sense of speed is pretty good, and the crash animations are comical to behold (once you get past the fact you just wiped out of course) as they are spot on with your rider curling up in a ball as opposed to the typical ragdoll. The racing animations, and opponents expressions (i.e. the winner raising their hands as they cross finish line) are agreeable as well.

The contest comes with 3 types of challenges; time, race, and tricks. Each level also includes a training option as well, allowing you to pre-run the track, which is something that is true to life and a nice addition. The time challenges are just that, you against the clock. The races are pretty hectic with you taking your starting positions with a strong line-up, men and women, and all gunning it for the checkered flag after the proverbial countdown. The last type of adventure is the trick challenge. A variety of tricks are included, from the pretty commonly simple no-hander, to the sick 'superman'. The best part is that you can throw these moves out during the races and time challenges; when you are hovering in the air on a time challenge, even though it is all about time, it was pretty easy to throw out a slick move as immediately upon leaving earth the trick button set appears. The trick combos that you can put together are pretty awesome. Beating one type of challenge in a level will unlock the next level/stage.

DMBX2 includes 3 'worlds'; Highlands, Canyons, and the Mountains. The cool part is that these are not unlocked in a specific order allowing the rider to access any area as they desire. Each world has 4 levels, and each level contains all challenges. Add that up, and it is a somewhat limited 12 levels, but the replayability comes in beating your time and bettering your last point scores. The tracks definitely get more badass as you progress as the jumps get slammer, corners tighter, and the racers more aggressive. There is also a replay option, with a highly navigable interface, providing the speedster with the options to check out that sick trick you just barely and luckily landed. Another worthy extension is the ability to listen to your own playlist as you compete.

The interface is hit or miss depending on your platform. On the iPhone, tilt steering prevails, and you only need to depress the right side of the screen to crank, with the left side trick popup's. I enjoyed my time with this title on the iPhone, but I originally bought this game with the intention of playing it on the iPad. The same tilt steering options are included for the iPad, but there is also a fixed and floating joystick selection. Here's the problem with either; The fixed joystick find it's center in the far upper right of the screen, right under the time and trick displays. Quite odd. This would be the best option for the iPad if it weren't so strangely placed. That leaves you with the next option, the floating joystick. Once again, it's center is meant to be in the upper right as that is where it immediately appears, but you can depress the lower right (seems most natural placement for me) and the joystick will work there. The issue with this is that once you huck off a jump, you then need to start to re-pedal and that requires the user to take their thumb off of the screen, depress again, and then push forward. When you are in a race, milliseconds matter, so once again, this is not the best option. Keep in mind that this joystick also controls your steering. So, this is why I found myself enjoying this title on the iphone much more and was disappointed with the control scheme on the intentionally bought to be played on iPad.

If you are looking for a downhill mountain bike racing game with gorgeous graphics, sickbird tricks, and realistic animations, you may find what you are looking for in DMBX 2. If you plan to play on an iPhone, all the better, but if you plan to play on an iPad and are opposed to tilt, you may find yourself frustrated with the current control schemes. Hopefully, the developer will fix this thorn and players on all devices can enjoy this entertaining Downhill mounting biking and BMX diversion.

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Starbounder [Studio Radko] - $1.99

Runners certainly have their fair share of fans, and it’s not really surprising. The gameplay is simple, addictive, easy to learn hard to master, and best of all, fun. Recently, these games have been changing and expanding, and usually, for the better. Studio Radko’s Starbounder is a prime example of this. A level based, space ship ‘runner’ where you glide along platforms in outer space collecting orbs and jumping from platform to platform. 

Diving right in, you’re given a little bit of a story. Apparently, you’ve been in hyper sleep for the last 5,000+ years, and were only supposed to be awoke when you came into contact with something or someone intelligent. The systems woke you when coming across a giant platform. It’s up to you to explore and catalogue everything you can. What better way to do that than to race across the platforms at top-speed?

Starbounder only has one gameplay mode, but fortunately, there’s 6 separate environments, each with 10 levels. All 60 of the levels have 3 orbs which you can try and collect, acting as a ranking system. But without GameCenter leaderboards and achievements, the drive to go back and collect the ones you’ve missed is kind of lost. There is one racer which you can unlock after you get 180 orbs, and has special abilities, but the rest of the ships all have the same stats, same acceleration, top speed, and handling, so it's primarily cosmetic. There are patterns and different colored boosters which you can select to change the appearance as well, but it really would have been great to have different stats for each vehicle. 

The controls work well, having a break button in the lower left corner, and a jump button in the lower right, and tilt controls to move left and right. Each of the tracks are a straight shot, but they’re wide, and you will need to do some fancy maneuvering to make it through, but the controls are good enough to get you through, and the edges of platforms are forgiving enough so you won’t have any unfair crashes or descents into the blackness of space. 

The graphics and animations are decent. There is a jumping animation which is nice, and the explosion animation is pretty cool, and both definitely add to the graphical look and feel of it all, and the backgrounds are beautiful. The music and sound effects are a huge plus as well, with pounding beats and great FX mixing in very well with the music, it adds a level of adrenaline to the game. 

The level designs in the beginning are very simplistic, but as you progress throughout the game, they get more and more complex, and really become a highlight of the game. It’s very clear that lots of time, effort and testing has gone into the creation of the levels, and it has a huge impact on the gameplay, especially if you’re going to try and get all of the orbs. They are placed in areas which will require definite skill in order to collect them all, which does help to make up for the lack of GameCenter. There’s a great feeling of accomplishment after pulling off some sick jumps and quick turns to collect the 3 orbs, especially later on in the game. 

There are two versions of Starbounder, SD and HD. The SD version is normally priced at $1.99, but is currently on sale for $0.99, and is made for the iPhone 4 and 4th Generation iPod Touch. The HD build is also originally priced at $1.99, but is on sale for $0.99 as well, and is made for the iPhone 4S and iPads 2 and 3. Both versions are Universal, so you should be careful as to which version you pick up. If you’re a fan of runners, especially level based runners, Starbounder is a great title to pick up. If you’re looking for a level based star racer, with twists and turns, power-ups and other racers, this probably won’t hit that nerve. Hopefully GameCenter boards can be added in the future. Having that extra drive to get better times, or collect all the orbs would be a great addition, and would keep gamers coming back to the game time and time again, even after completing the game. But as it is now, it’s still definitely worth checking out. 

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