Alto's Adventure Review

Title: Alto's Adventure

Platform(s): iOS Devices

Release Date: February 19, 2015

Rating: 9+

I should begin this article by saying that I do not like mobile games. It's a medium that completely missed me. I find many to be nothing but time wasters and I can't stand staring at a tiny screen while trying to play. So I really mean it when I say that Alto's Adventure is a really good game that has me constantly picking up my phone for another round.  Alto's Adventure is a simple game with simple mechanics. Though the difficulty of the game never increases, it wraps its players up in its addicting level goals and beautiful art style.

Alto's Adventure tells the story of a herder who wakes up to find that his or her llamas have escaped and are running down what appears to be the longest hill in the world. Without thought, the herder dashes off on snowboard to collect these wandering llamas and maybe perform a few double backflips along the way. That's all Alto's Adventure has in the way of story and that is plenty to give you incentive to go down the hill over and over again.

Alto's Adventure stands out for being a visually stunning mobile game. The game is bright, colorful and feels like it is popping off the screen, even when played on very small one. Snow falls from the sky, trees lose their leaves, and the sun pokes its head out from behind mountains in the distance. Alto's Adventure has its own day/night cycle and even dynamic weather that make each trip down the hill feel unique from the last. The game has a calming soundtrack and sound effects such as the sound of snow under your board or thunder crashing during storms do a lot to add to the atmosphere of the game. It's awesome to see so much care put into the visuals of a mobile game to give it its own unique feel and stand apart from other games on the market.

The only slight annoyance to this is that at night it can sometimes be hard to see obstacles the player must jump over, leading to some premature runs. While this doesn't happen often enough to be a major complaint, it is also not rare enough to be overlooked.

Alto's Adventure is a randomly generated game, where each trip down the hill is different from the last. As the player rides downwards, there will be dangers such as chasms or obstacles that they must jump over by tapping on the screen. There are also ramps and bunting chords for the rider to perform tricks on. Tapping and holding a finger on the screen will cause the boarder to perform a backflip and landing on a bunting chord will result in a grind trick. Occasionally riders will be chased down the hills by NPCs called “elders” that come at players quickly and have the ability to knock characters off their boards. It is up to the player to jump, ramp, and grind away from elders to remain going down the slope.

The game's mechanics are very simple, but solid. The game always registered when I tapped the screen and once I got the feel of the game, it was very easy to control. When I missed a jump or didn't land a backflip, I always felt that my rhythm was at fault, not the game. I think it is worth noting that I played the game with a screen protector on and still never felt that the game was missing my finger. During the several hours I played Alto's Adventure, it constantly performed well.

One gripe I do have with the game is that it never seems to pick up in difficulty. As you travel further down the hill, their never seems to be an increase in challenge. Chasms never get wider, you never have to outrun more than one elder at a time, and obstacles never become more numerous. I feel that the game's simple controls could have created a good opportunity to make a challenging game that gave players incentive to try and break their record distance with each time that they played. But, once players understand the controls of the game, its very simple to fly down the hill for great distances without breaking a sweat.

Though the game never gets harder, the games level-up system poses different goals that are challenging and become the major draw of the game. Objectives such as performing two double-backflips in one run or staying airborne for three seconds become addicting as you think that maybe you can get them all with just one more trip down the hill. I found that I wasn't concerned with how far I could make it in the game; rather I felt driven to keep completing these objectives to see what new challenges it would throw my way.

The game rewards players with a new character for every ten levels they complete. These prizes are satisfying and good incentive to keep trying, but they also open up different ways to play the game. Different characters will have different strengths and weaknesses and experimenting with them to find out which one works best for each objective becomes necessary to continue progression. For example, the character Maya is able to flip quicker than others, but rides down the hill slower. If an objective calls for you to backflip a certain amount of times in one run, Maya may be your best bet. But, if an objective has you running away from elders, than a different choice may be the way to go. Finding which character is necessary for different objectives becomes a fun challenge and it isn't long before you are constantly switching out characters to complete each level.

I feel that many mobile games don't offer enough content or mechanics to be given a numerical score based upon the game as a package. So, in conclusion I will say that for only $1.99, Alto's Adventure is worth checking out. It packs in a lot of visual flair for such a small game. Though it is very simple and at times can lack challenge, the game's very unique look and attention to detail in its presentation, as well as its excellent level-up system, make this a game that shouldn't be over-looked for fans of mobile gaming. 

Blake Hester

Parentsbasementgaming@gmail.com