of a Dreamcast as the 1980s. But this
cruelly overlooked overhead racer
is one of the most compelling we’ve
played on iOS. Dinky cars barge their
way along vertically scrolling tracks,
getting all smashy in an attempt to
reach their goal.
At first, your car is underpowered
and fragile, but as you improve your
position, you can buy upgrades (only
with earned in-game currency –
there’s no IAP). Eventually, you’ll be
kicking bottom racking up wins, at
which point you can take on the next
championship level. There’s also a
split-screen multiplayer mode, if you
think you’ve got what it takes to beat
your friends.- Golf On Mars
Price: £2.99
It’s the year 2866. A third of Mars
is terraformed. But humans are
humans, and so the red planet’s now a
gargantuan golf course.
How gargantuan? Try 25.77 billion
holes – all algorithmically generated
to make your own personal course
unique. Helpfully, we’re told if a time
traveller sent an iPhone 24,515 years
into the past, and a tribe ritually
played the game daily for 30 seconds,
they’d only just be done today. And,
no, we’ve no idea how they’d charge
the iPhone.
All of which might lead you to
conclude Golf On Mars is pointless,
since it’s never-ending. But that in
itself is part of the point. Your score is
logged but doesn’t really matter. This
is a game to relax with, idly working
through an effectively endless Zen-
like quest into the unknown.
The mechanics are suitably simple
for such a task: drag an arrow to define
direction and power, and set spin with
a second finger. The sandy surface
means the ball sometimes catches on
hills, and there are other hazards to
contend with, like low-flying clouds.
37.