Traffic Rider Game Review

Traffic Rider is a very easy game. Possibly too easy, but it is has a package of very excellent graphics and intelligent design that continuously prods you to pay real money.

The game is free, but very rapidly becomes costly if you want to progress. This insatiable mentality keeps an otherwise fun game from being something good.

First, let’s discuss gameplay, though there isn’t much to talk about. The concept is easy, you’re driving a motorcycle from a first-person viewpoint. And you’re racing alongside the clock. Fundamentally, you need to get to the finish line before the timer runs out. Sounds easy right? It is. The only difficulty is in not crashing into the other cars on the road.

Traffic Rider Game Review

You direct the motorcycle by pressing either the brake or the choke and tilting the device to guide. It’s not complicated, but the controls are faultless which counts for something.

There are differences in the formula, like “overtaking” cars (passing them and scratching the paint) in a certain amount of time, but in the end, this is merely driving fast, not crashing, and hoping you strike the clock.

There are some customization choices, and as you level up you can undo better and better motorcycles. This doesn’t change the game that much other than changing your HUD and some minor performance improvements.

Traffic Rider Game Metacritic

These unlockables are mostly aesthetic and don’t change the gameplay in any thoughtful way. You’re still just riding a motorcycle through traffic. There are choices to the “career” mode, like “Endless”, which is just what it sounds like, “Time Trial” where you struggle against your times, and “Free Ride”. But the gameplay is just too easy to support any sort of difference.

It’s all just riding a motorcycle through cars and trying not to slay yourself. This is where the somewhat sneaky paywall comes in. I’m the best at racing games, but very rapidly I found myself running out of time and being asked to carry on by spending coins.

Of course, you can purchase more coins with real money, and though I comprehend the business model, I find it too insistently applied here.

There are way several ads in Traffic Rider, and it rapidly starts to feel like very little content cloaked as a game hoping to get you to expend money on it.

Pros and Cons of Traffic Rider

The graphics are Traffic Rider’s power. Everything is molded well, from the backgrounds to the motorcycles themselves. The game is easy enough that a huge deal of effort can be put into making everything attractive, and they succeeded in that.

It runs well on each device I tested it on, it never crashed (HA!) and it was constantly pretty. That’s a striking achievement not to be overlooked.

Traffic Driver has too little satisfaction to validate the invasive ads and the paywall. It is attractive, and the gameplay is fun even if awfully simple.

In the end, all the nicely given motorcycles in the world aren’t enough to offer this game my suggestion.