Junecloud

Moto Racer is a fun game with a few unfortunate flaws. Gameplay is simple: press the gas button to go and tilt the phone to steer. Occasionally some bad guys will swoop in beside you, and a punch button appears. At first the placement of the punch button seemed like a terrible design choice, because it’s on the same side as the gas. But then I realized it was intentional—it feels like a good approximation of how challenging it would really be to punch someone on a motorcycle. It adds a lot to the challenge.

The first big flaw is that the game doesn’t save your progress as you play, only when your game ends. If you unlock 3 levels and then hit the home button in the middle of the game, you’ll have to play those three levels over again. It’s even more frustrating if the game crashes while you’re playing. I didn’t mind replaying some levels, but after doing the same few levels a fourth time it got a bit tiresome.

The other big problem I had was that the game would sometimes think I’d driven off the track when I had just touched an upward slope on the side of the track. In most areas you can drive far up these inclines, and the inconsistency is a problem. In most areas the game is forgiving about driving off the course or into things, which is good as the controls can be tricky. The courses get more challenging as the game progresses. (On a side note, the game starts with the difficulty all the way up. I had to turn it down quite a bit to get past the first few levels.)

The graphics range from below average to great. Some tracks are impressive for the hardware while others are bland. The characters look awkward in a way that probably could have been improved on without affecting performance. The story frames between races are often entertaining (it involves a stolen kitten), but most are a single still frame with no animation. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s supposed to be going on.

Despite my complaints I did have fun playing it, but as it is I’d simply call it an average game. If you’re dying for a racing game I’d recommend it, but otherwise I’ve found games like Critter Crunch, Tetris, and Trism are more fun and last longer.

Check out Moto Racer for iPhone in the iTunes