Codemasters, the veteran video game developer behind F1 Challenge, Colin McRae Rally, Boom! Tank and more, has just released Drive: USA in the NZ App Store and the game will be going worldwide very soon. When we first saw the title two months ago, it was undergoing a test run in the Singapore App Store. From its name and screenshots, I got to the conclusion that this game is a car driving/racing game. But astonishingly it’s not. And at its core, it is nothing but an endless running game, just with a car at your hand’s control.
This isn’t the first time we have seen a game like this. It bears a lot of similarities to a widely prevailing Chinese game named “天天飞车” by Tencent, a China-based social network and gaming tycoon most famous for its IM software QQ and WeChat.
In Drive: USA, you are controlling a car to drive on a five-lane path. The run is proceeding automatically. What you have to do is constantly jump from one lane to another to collect coins and power-ups, dodge barricades or other vehicles on the road. The farther you can go, the better score you will gain.
The game seems quite simple upon the start, but is deceptively challenging as you drive further. There are five lanes, which means you have a lot of choices to take when encountering an obstacle. But what if the obstacles come one after another, giving you literally no time to take a breath? Well, chances are you will hit one of them and crack. So you need to hold steady and reflex fast so as to get through those challenges.
Other cliche stuff includes that you can unlock more cars and characters with the coins you earn, and that you can use tons of power-ups to boost the run, etc. You can also share your highest score on Facebook and compete against friends. And the developer is considering to allow friends to send daily gifts to each other in future updates.
Let’s forget about the “runner with a car driving skin” kind of stuff, what Drive: USA offers is a fresh and challenging endless running experience that many of you might not have seen. Though it may not hit as what Temple Run, Running with Friends have done, it may serve well as a time-waster, where you and your friends can have fun playing together.
View and Download on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/drive-usa/id709123449?mt=8
For more iOS games: http://ios.appsgoer.com
For hot forum discussion: http://forums.appsgoer.com/forumdisplay.php?1361-Drive-USA
