Xtreme Wheels by Bravo Game Studios (universal) is a gorgeous stunt racer that plays almost as good as it looks.
It reminded me of the 1980’s UK TV show called Kickstart, but if that reference is too obscure anyone who has played Redlynx’s Trials on Xbox Live or elsewhere or even Joe Danger on the PSN will notice many similarities to Xtreme Wheels.
Players must navigate obstacles trying to complete the course within a specific time limit. The obstacles that gamers will encounter include assorted ramps, exploding barrels, stacked barrels, treacherous ditches and other more.
The game just looks amazing on iPad. The detailed graphics as seen in the rendering of rider, bike and props are incredibly rich and just ooze high production value.
Bravo claims its 3D – that may be overstating, but there is some depth and a super high framerate especially on iPad 2.
The course is well-balance and speed, but also control over the rider’s position on the bike, is what players need in order to complete the 20 increasingly difficult tracks without breaking every bone in his body!
Explosive barrels line the course and can be friend or lethal foe by boosting speeds and height or bringing a very quick end to a riding career.
Gameplay has solid physics to it across the courses and the game is optimized to for both retina display and the iPad 2′s A5 processor. As Bravo claims the results are near console quality, and not what I expected from an iOS title.
The controls are so simple you hardly know they are there – forward and reverse with a finger the bottom right and most important there’s a slider on the left to adjust the rider’s position in the bike which controls the physics. The optional use of the accelerometer is helpful.
This is not a race, the goal is to complete each track in all the worlds whose obstacles if not avoided can lead to gory results. My only wish would be to skip harder tracks, but they are short so I guess having to finish them all has merit and there are a lot of checkpoints.The game has Game Center integration for leaderboards.
Whether players survive as a champion or fall to the ground as a loser, Xtreme Wheelswill win gamers over with its gameplay and visuals, making it an eye-popping experience unlike any other on a handheld device.
