Fire Rides is another platformer that keeps to a simple tenant: simplicity. The gameplay of Fire rides is based around one simple mechanic – swinging from the terrain. The only thing you need to avoid is smacking into the wall and dying horribly. Nothing too bad at all.
Too swing around the corridor, you tap and hold to the screen to connect a line of pure fire directly upwards to attach to the ceiling. As soon as you’re attached, you begin swinging in a parabolic arc. If you don’t release your hold on the ceiling in time however, your arc will thump you against the very ceiling you’re trying to hold on to. A very sad symbiotic relationship indeed.[sc name=”quote” text=”A very sad symbiotic relationship indeed.”]
The point of it all is that your little ball of fire needs to traverse this corridor and rack up as many points as possible. The whys and wherefores of flying through a spiky, drug tripping corridor isn’t important, what is important are those valuable points.
Every second you’re flying through the air you rack up one point, so pretty simple point gain at the start. However, as you progress you begin to find little targeting circles with 5 tiers. Depending on where you enter the circle from, you gain between 1 and 5 points, encouraging you to perfect your aim so as to try and land as much in the centre as possible.
The goal of trying to hit the targeting sphere inherently trains the player to become incredibly skilful in a very short time. This is the kind of training program that so many games of this type lack – it is entirely organic. There are no pithy training levels that speak down to the player, treating them like an infant. You learn by playing and you learn very easily.[sc name=”quote” text=”You learn by playing and you learn very easily.”]
This makes Fire Rides an incredibly intuitive platformer, a word that is bandied about far too often. Fire Rides absolutely deserves this however, as few other games encourage the player to become skilled in such an organic and simplistic way. The targeting sphere changes shape as you progress, sometimes swinging from the ceiling in a copycat manner, meaning you need to adapt your swinging techniques as you progress.
Periodically, the colour scheme will change due to passing through a multi coloured barrier, rewarding you with 10 lovely points and making the game feel just a little bit faster, thus upping the intensity.
To encourage players to continue their progress after a teeny slipup resulting in their death, the game offers you the ability to keep going by watching an ad – a fairly commonplace monetization strategy. What is annoying is that, on completion of the ad, the game will put you right back where you were very suddenly, swinging from your line towards the terrain. Most likely you’ll just smack directly into the side, dying again anyway.
This irritation aside, Fire Rides manages to be an intuitive experience that keeps the player desperately swinging like Tarzan, striving evermore for a higher score, all the while never quite realising how much time has passed.
Fire Rides is an exercise in intuitive gameplay and deserves an immediate download.
[review pros=”Intuitive to a fault. Simple and easy to understand. Rewarding and colourful when played well.” cons=”The second chance on death can often result in you dying again anyway.” score=8]
[appbox appstore id1279296287]
