Bike Assault Review

Though mobile games grow more complex by the day, there's still room a-plenty for the genre that popularized the medium: The old-fashioned arcade action game. Bike Assault by Dyabit Games is a bare-bones arcade game through-and-through. It's also a reminder that even the most basic games can benefit from some options.

Bike Assault puts players on the back of a sweet motorcycle. Said cycle glides down the highway, chasing the tail of an armored truck. When the player lines up with the truck's hind end, the truck is automatically fired upon with a gun. Every shot causes a bundle of money to fall from the vehicle. Scooping up a bundle by driving over it grants a single point. That's pretty much it. Drive, shoot, score, repeat. Post score on worldwide leaderboards. Brag. Or hide in shame, depending on performance.

Getting a score worth being proud of is a little trickier than it sounds, however. The motorbike constantly guzzles gas, and players need to drive over the gas canisters scattered along the highway in order to refuel. More importantly, the player needs to take care not to slam into the armored truck itself, or any of the other motorists puttering along the road. Since traffic weaves all over the place, scoring and dodging requires sharp reflexes.

Bike Assault is controlled via accelerometer, which works well for the most part. Tilt to the right to speed up, tilt to the left to slow down, tilt back and forth to change lanes. It's fine, but an option for on-screen buttons is always nice for driving/running games. At least calibration is hassle-free: Simply pause the game and un-pause when the device is in the desired playing position.

It would be cool to have access to power-ups that cause the truck to drop more money with each hit. It would also be cool to have a way to clear the street of straggling cars. Collecting is fun. Collecting coupled with destruction is more fun.

On its own, Bike Assault is a decent arcade game, if shallow. The drive to land on the leaderboards will keep players occupied for a while, though not for hours on end by any means.