Petr Šourek I remember the days when computer games were just a mess of pixels and the player needed a lot of imagination to imagine what those few dots meant. At that time, the focus was mainly on the gameplay, which was able to keep the player playing the games for a long time. I don't know when it changed, but I still remember some older games and I don't understand why they aren't made in the same quality today.
Stunts is one such game. Those who remember the 286 series computers will surely remember these car races. The player raced against time on a track where there were lots of obstacles and it was about getting the best time. Of course, this meant having several friends and competing with them on individual tracks by passing files with records on a floppy disk. It wasn't about who had the faster car, it was mainly about how the player was able to drive technically.
As the years went by, Nadeo took a cue from the success of Stunts and developed Trackmania. The Internet replaced the floppy disk with files, and the graphics improved a lot. In any case, Nadeo was not the only company that took this concept to heart. The other one was True Axis and programmed a similar game for our little friends. How did she do it? Lets look.
The game welcomes us with 3D graphics, where we have a view of our formula from behind. 3, 2, 1 … And off we go. We drive along the track, where the pinnacle of graphic art is several 3D blocks of different colors and clouds are looming in the background, which give us the feeling that we are on elevated platforms, i.e. just a little hesitation and we fall down. The graphics are not the best that can be seen on an iPhone, however, it has one plus and that is lower battery consumption, which is certainly welcomed by anyone who is on the go.
The audio side of the game isn't overwhelming either. I usually play the game in silent mode, but once I turned on the sound, I couldn't tell if I was hearing the mower or the formula for a while. Anyway, I'm not a person who would judge just by the aspects of graphics and sound, but by the gameplay, which we will look at now.
The game controls very well. When I played the tutorial, I thought it wouldn't be easy to control at all, but the opposite was true. In a few minutes, it will completely turn into blood and you won't even think about it. The car turns classically via the accelerometer, which is not the way I like it, but here it didn't bother me at all and I even stopped thinking about it. Above the formula, you see 3 dashes that determine where the iPhone is tilted. If you're driving straight, the floating point below them is below the middle one, otherwise it's to the left or right, depending on the angle. It's very nice and I miss this in some games. Acceleration and deceleration are controlled with the right finger and afterburner (nitro) and air brake with the left. These elements are mainly for controlling jumps. On some you have to add "gas", ie. turn on the afterburner. And if you see that you're about to jump, you're able to slow down in the air with the help of the airbrake. Sometimes the air brake is also used to stop the car from spinning so that we land back on the wheels. The dashes you see in the images below the iPhone tilt indicator are to show the tilt when jumping. If you tilt your iPhone towards you while jumping and press "Nitro", then you can fly further and vice versa. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't that complicated.
The main currency of the game is the possibility of playing for all players. If you are a pro or just a casual player, the game has 2 modes for you in which you can test your skills:
- Normal,
- Casual.
The main disadvantage of normal mode is that you don't get the afterburner fuel, which is at the top of the screen. The only chance to restore it is to go through a checkpoint, which sometimes requires a lot of thinking about when and how long to use it. The reward is that your result will then be posted online and you will see how you stand against other players.
Casual mode is really simple. Your fuel is renewed. You don't have to complete the course in less than ten attempts (mostly going off course and falling). It's easier, but it's good training to learn and master all the tracks.
The only thing that bothers me about this game is the absence of a track editor and their sharing with the game community, which is maintained through OpenFeint. Anyway, the full version has 36 tracks, which lasts for a while, and if you don't have enough, there is an option to buy another 8 tracks in the game for free and 26 tracks for 1,59 Euro, which is the same amount as the game itself. In other words, the game costs 3,18 Euros, which is a lot compared to the hours of entertainment it is able to provide.
Verdict: The game is very well done and if you have a bit of a competitive spirit in you and enjoy racing where you have to drive tactically rather than just holding the gas, this is the game for you. It's at the top of my list of car racing for the iPhone. I fully recommend it.
Great article but it didn't have eveyhritng—I didn't find the kitchen sink!
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