Drag Racing: Bike Edition : Rev that engine and burn that rubber!
If you’ve ever searched around for games like “Drag Racing” then you would have noticed that nothing out there can compare to Creative Mobile’s product. Now there’s no need to look any further… there is another gear shifting shocker out there… it’s the Drag Racing: Bike Edition by the same developers! Check out our thoughts of the game below…
[If you’ve come here looking for Bike Tunes, check out our Facebook page where we’re starting to discuss tunes and we’re sharing the best we have! (only level 1 at the moment)] (goto http://www.androidgamesreview.com/DragRacingBikesFacebook and you’ll be redirected to our Facebook Bike Tunes Page) (Level 1, 1/4 mile Thundercat, Time:9.482s… tell us if you can beat this.)
Gameplay: The core of this bike game is similar to the original Drag Racing product. So you tap the bike lever to start the race lights changing, and you focus all your attention on shifting the gears… no steering whatsoever. Get all your changes in the sweet spots and you’ll get perfect gear shifts which will marginally improve your speed and acceleration. Outside of the races there are different bikes to purchase and many more upgrades to apply to your bikes. As with the original there are a multitude of different scenarios to enjoy your drag races: either play online against the computer, or race against real people online around the world!
We’re going to quickly dissect this game into its component parts, but if you’re a pro Drag Racing player then jump to the differences section where you can hear about what’s changed in this sequel.
Graphics: Much like the original, the graphics here are a slightly acquired taste. They’re 2D images which are somewhere inbetween cartoony and real visualisations. So most people would probably see a tacky bike, but after several races you’ll come to like the pictures because they’re the main reason why the game runs so smoothly. Although there is a possible unrealistic look about the racers, that’s actually not true – an amazing amount of detail is in the movement animation. I’m not referring to the wheel spinning… I’m talking about the fact that the bike does wheelies, and the racer actually looks like he has his arms and legs all connected and moving in a life like way. (The wheelie is a very important indicator later on when you’re tuning the bike.)
Overall, the intro splash screen and the menus are much brighter than the original game. There does seem to be something which is slightly more user friendly, but at the same time something about the menus is confusing. I suspect this will improve and enhance as the first game did. Most importantly though, there are some slight animations in the menu which breathe more life into the game.
Music & Sound Effects: Epic music greets you, much like the latest iteration of Drag Racing. It gets you happy and pumping ready to rev that engine and shunt those gear changes. The sounds are spot on for a racing game… and I wouldn’t be surprised if they just reused their old sound effects because I think most people wouldn’t know the difference! My only issue here was that the music seemed to stop looping in the menu screen every now and then – but that’ll get fixed as more updates are released.
Core Differences in this Sequel
Differences in the core race:
- Gear changes occur when your thumb leaves the screen. Thus allowing you to keep your thumb on the screen and get more accurate gear changes.
- Due to the above point there doesn’t appear to be a second gear launch ability at the moment.
- The different gear shift zones on the rev meter will dynamically change for every gear to help you get perfect shifts.
- Nitros need to be purchased! They’re not just there to freely use.
- You travel around the world to eight different cities so you get more variety in the racing scenes.
- Respect Points are now called Victory Points.
Under the hood:
- The Tuning Pack doesn’t need to be bought and comes as default.
- No money is earned whilst conducting races in the tuning race tests.
- One can buy and upgrade components. There’s no penalty in switching out components anymore. You can freely change and adapt the parts until you get the best setup.
- There’s much more clarity on when a bike will increase in level.
In essence there’s a clear trade off between the bike and car versions of these games. Although there are some of the improvements listed above, the complexity of the bike upgrades is much greater. This means that the bike can be more difficult to tune. To put this difficulty into perspective: there are about 5 more upgrade subcategories, and the tuning has front and rear sprocket settings which you can adjust.
I think after creating their initial product they realised that the core of their game was actually under the hood. So they’ve listened to their petrol head fans out there and delivered an improved version which hones in on the machine tuning.
Gut Feel: It’s fun to pip any opponent past the post. This sequel does feel good, though I’m perhaps slightly biased since I’ve got a bit of an attraction towards bikes and have been buying real life biker gear recently! Skewed opinion aside… I think those people who like competing and challenging would enjoy playing this. You get to compete in the world arena in a short mini game where you can leave you opponents in the dust.
Rating: 4/5 Drag Racing Bike Edition is a fun gear shifting game and an interesting sequel. It’s slightly more alive than the car version and has a greater depth in game complexity. At the same time it’s designed to be easier and more approachable for new players. It’s hard to say whether the fresh racers would enjoy it much though because the 2D graphics are still an acquired taste. Nonetheless, it’s probably best to enjoy this free game now as there’ll be the most people playing it at the moment!
Drag Racing: Bike Edition Youtube Promotional Video
Drag Racing Bike Edition Tips from Android Games Review
- It’s possible for you to get to the second half of the first area using the starting bike.
- Once you start losing then purchase the Swing Arm Extension (under the wheels upgrades). This seems to deliver the most bang for your buck, and should be enough to push you further forward in that stage (though it’s not enough to beat the boss).
- We will put out some more game tips and share our bike tunes soon!
- If you have a rooted phone then check out this money hack!
- Don’t drink and drive kids!
[If you’ve come here looking for Bike Tunes, check out our Facebook page where we’re starting to discuss tunes and we’re sharing the best we have! (only level 1 at the moment)] (goto http://www.androidgamesreview.com/DragRacingBikesFacebook and you’ll be redirected to our Facebook Bike Tunes Page) (Level 1, 1/4 mile Thundercat, Time:9.482s… tell us if you can beat this.)
Drag Racing: Bike Edition QR Code
(Click on the download button below or scan the QR code with your Android phone to goto Google Play)
Developers: Creative Mobile
