Game Reviews

Alpine Racer

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Alpine Racer
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| Alpine Racer

With the great big frosting of snow that covered almost every inch of the UK last month and which is blanketing New England currently, the release of Alpine Racer couldn't be more timely.

Unfortunely, though, this cool racer is as short-lived as the snow it skis on, losing any lasting appeal despite a sparking appearance.

Alpine Racer chronicles the efforts of brother and sister Shogo and Rina Saga as they hunt for their missing father.

The ordeal has them donning snow caps and skis to complete sessions on the slopes. Each session consists of three stages: training, a preliminary race, and a final race.

As implied, the initial training stage warms you up for competition with a simple time trial. The preliminary race has you competing with your sibling, while the final and most challenging stage pits you against rival Genji Saga.

Sliding your finger left and right across the screen moves your skier accordingly. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the accelerometer for movement, pushing the phone forward to gain real speed when pelting downhill and tilting it to steer.

This former method is highly inadvisable because your finger ends up at the edges of the screen, leaving you with no place to go. Having your hand over the screen also covers up far too much of the action.

You need to be in top form to maneuovre tight turns, mini-short cuts and huge drops. The track design has been spiced up perfectly, striking a balance between the easy straightaways and gentle bends to more advanced narrow paths and precipitous turns.

Everything from trees, stray logs and giant snowmen litter the path, all which send you spinning upon impact.

Using tilt controls keeps your right hand free for tricks anyway. A button on the right side of the screen pressed when catching air executes a trick. Of course, if you don't have enough air to complete the trick before reaching powder you fall flat on your face.

Despite the risk, they're very much worth attempting. Pulling tricks and finishing the level quickly earns you 'skill points' that you can then use to upgrade your character's abilities from their rate of acceleration to strength or even top speed.

It all helps move you forward, meaning you're less likely to run into trouble when you switch up to the game's two trickier difficulties. In terms of building your confidence, Alpine Racer is as traditional and dependable as they come.

Its only blemish is its length. Just when the game is gearing up, it all comes to an end. The story's resolution is painfully obvious, leaving you with just the Time Trial mode and the extra knobs and bobs it brings to satisfy any desires for further frosty thrills.

It's a bittersweet end for this all-too brief alpine adventure. Another five or so levels would make this a mobile must-have, but for now Namco's return to the slopes is merely a tantalising glimpse of the super-sleek action it could and should have served up in a far bulkier package from the off.

Alpine Racer

With a great sense of speed and some swish course design, Alpine Racer conveys the thrills of skiing however short that trip may be
Score
Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.