Game Reviews

Sound Ride

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iOS
| Sound Ride
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Sound Ride
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iOS
| Sound Ride

Nothing enhances a good jog quite like a thumping soundtrack, a point Sound Ride embraces with great enthusiasm.

This stylish running title by OutOfTheBit combines action with simple music creation. It's a fun combination and the end result sounds great, though some minor control issues cause the running portion of the experience to stumble a bit.

A bird with a short memory

Sound Ride stars Kiwi, a small flightless bird suffering from a bad case of amnesia. Kiwi pounds the pavement and collects jewels in the hope that jogging will jog his memory.

The action is broken up into several levels, which gradually become trickier. Kiwi automatically goes from left to right while leaping over pits, spike traps, and perilous swinging platforms that will dump him into the abyss if he doesn't navigate them delicately.

Obviously, survival is your first priority, but you have a secondary mission: the creation of beautiful music. As you run you come across floating prisms that add layers to the background soundtrack when you hit them.

If you do well, you'll soon have a rich song playing on top of the tinny chiptune that accompanies the start of the run.

Build a beat

Sound Ride's music-building element is fun - it's satisfying to listen to the song build up from its humble beginnings. The game's sharp-angled, brightly coloured visuals lend the experience a unique look, and piecing together Kiwi's story adds an extra layer of interest.

Sound Ride's controls are a little problematic, however, particularly when you hit one of the game's many spinning platforms. Jumping or double-jumping off these death traps can be tricky, as the game's physics don't always respond the way you expect them to.

Jog your memory

Luckily, Sound Ride is a level-based experience that's dotted with checkpoints, so once you pass a sticky situation you can leave it behind you and move on to the next portion of Kiwi's quest for discovery.

Sound Ride has some interesting features that help distinguish it from the rest of the runners on the market. It won't be enough to win over folks who are sick to death of the genre, but everyone else should enjoy making beautiful music with Kiwi.

Sound Ride

Sound Ride's unique graphics and music-building hook add a bit of spice to what's otherwise a relatively vanilla running game
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