ALTO’S ADVENTURE

• Genre: Endless runner, physics
• Creators: Snowman Inc.
• Platform: IOS, Price: $1.99
• Notes: No IAP

Synopsis:

“Above the placid ivory snow lies a sleepy mountain village, brimming with the promise of adventure..

Join Alto and his friends as they embark on an endless snowboarding odyssey. Journey across the beautiful alpine hills of their native wilderness, through neighboring villages, ancient woodlands, and long-abandoned ruins.

Along the way you’ll rescue runaway llamas, grind rooftops, leap over terrifying chasms and outwit the mountain elders – all while braving the ever-changing elements and passage of time upon the mountain.”

Personal Thoughts :

Alto’s Adventure is a beautiful and simple game, using a timeless formula in extreme sports game physics. What brings this game here to this site, is the imaginary aspects.  and special overall feel. The endless hill, the minimalist environment, the strange item grabs where one can “hover” and grab llamas. This adventure is quite dreamlike, surreal.

The background music (different from the trailer, very ambient) is also a nice touch, with soft sound effects. The crashing and abrupt ends also have a weird peaceful vibe. It seems like a pleasant a way to go in the virtual world. To keep going for some unreachable goal, than falling down a chasm because one could not do a back-flip jump through the night. The character in the game exists to forever repeat this peaceful cycle of trials and errors. The constant motion and changing patterns of day to nights and back, and other differences; gives the gameplay experience a linear tone.

The gameplay is very addictive. I played a couple of days of this, through about 8 “levels” where one has to accomplish certain feats. As with many endless runners, you make terrible mistakes even after physics are somewhat mastered. The flips and jumps are difficult to master, and the reward is accomplishment after much wipeout. Then, the game last longer and the pleasant surreal experience of the game becomes more constant and enjoyable; as one games the confidence for difficult tasks in this “adventure.”

This game is good for replacing a real life stress for an artificial one.  Do these in short intervals, as the game does not demand much. For the moment, there are no in-app purchases and the “store” has minimal things to spend using your virtual coins. Every aspect of this is good and simple, leaving the core of your thoughts to focus on the challenge.

– Orion T