Tuesday, May 27, 2014

IOS Spotlight #66: Swipecart

Title: Swipecart
Developer: Mike Hendry
Platforms: IOS Universal, PC
Price: $1.99, $4.99 (PC)
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If anything, playing Swipecart brings to mind Temple of Doom's thrilling escape on a minecart through the crumbling tunnels and rickety tracks. Barely in control, with an array of obstacles to overcome, Swipecart offers a fun experience formed around a simple touch-friendly control scheme.
Mechanically, Swipecart is quite true to its name. Each level begins with you swiping the screen to build momentum, and then you're off, rolling through a variety of drops. dips, hills, jumps and seesaws, cannons and more. On the track, your only control is braking so the game becomes about gathering the right amount of momentum (too fast and you might overshoot a jump, too slow and you won't make it up hills), maintaining your momentum throughout the track, and then bleeding off that momentum to stop between the finish markers. So it's basically all about momentum and while in terms of controls, the game is light, the assorted tracks squeeze a solid amount of different challenges and obstacles to navigate, combining them in interesting ways to test your skills. Alongside earning the best times and scores on levels and collecting hard-to-reach collectibles, you can also customize your rider and cart and even make and share your own levels.
I found Swipecart fun, but the nature of the game means it can get repetitive and much of the game comes down to trial and error as you figure how much speed you need in the beginning and when you need to start braking to stop at the finish. You can purchase Swipecart for $1.99.

The game is also on PC, playable with the mouse or a gamepad, and while playing the game on a bigger screen is nice, I found that, true to its namesake, Swipecart is best played on mobile, with swiping and touch controls.

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