Kudos for no consumable IAPs;Fun, Challenging w/o being impossible – Battle Riders Review

This game is how iOS games should be done thanks to no consumable IAPs. I refuse to DL games with consumable IAPs, and a lot of the other race games where you can build up abilities (the car speed,armor and weapons in this case) can translate into a lot of IAPs to unlock new vehicles and offer a fast track to advanced weapons. This game eschews these shortcuts and cash grabs by only unlocking new vehicles with victories and allows items to be upgraded with in game currency that has to be earned. So, kudos for restoring the idea of advancement through merit and resisting the urge to make cash grabs. But how is the game itself? In a few words: fun and challenging without being too difficult. The learning curve is graceful and not too steep. This game might be a little too monotonous for some, but for what it does have it does well. (see the next paragraph for the variations.) I find the repetition acceptable considering the many variation and challenges with the AI opponents. One second you can be in the lead about to win, and the next second another car can either blow your car up or slam you into a wall. So, you have to drive well, but there is some forgiveness with races that allow weapons. Each track has multiple places with pads you can drive over to either speed up with a temporary nitrous boost, reload weapons or gin credits to repair your car if needed. (Note: clean races have no weapon pads and Survival Races do not allow repairs.) There are 3 tiers: “rookie,” “racer” and “rider” (pro). Each higher tier is unlocked by beating the prior tiers. Each higher tier allows higher capacity weapons, faster cars and more deadly opponents. New tracks are unlocked with there being 3 main backgrounds/track types: “city limits,” “canyon” & “metropolis” with 6 different tracks each. Also there are 6 different types of races: Duel (2 car), Battle (first across the finish line), Survival (first to finish or only one to survive), Elimination (each lap eliminates the car is last place), Clean race (no weapons), and Time Trial (just you versus the clock to do 1 lap). About the only thing I would do to improve this game it would be to add tracks, more customization of cars (allow a 3rd or 4th tier of armor and weapons that allows one to trade off speed for armor,etc.) and a tier above “rider” that was online for live challenges. In 5 or 10 minute sessions (most races last under 4 minutes) this game excels at creating an entertaining game devoid of shortcuts to the top.
Review by “_M_” on Battle Riders.