Mega Drift Review

Developer: Chillingo
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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Overall Rating:

There’s a lot about Mega Drift that reminds me of the 16-bit days of gaming. Besides its font evoking memories of Streets of Rage, the soundtrack is a lot like many racing games of that era. Mega Drift is more casual than most, simply requiring you to use one button frequently, but it’s kind of fun and an easy way to waste a few minutes.

You work your way round various race tracks. They’re typical rallying areas, meaning that drifting is imperative to your chances for success. Your car drives automatically but you can hold your finger to the drift button in order to take corners quickly. Also, you can tilt your device so as to dodge obstacles or pick up collectibles, but this isn’t as frequent as you’d expect.

No, the main point behind Mega Drift is in the name - you drift. A lot. It’s fun, too, although there’s a real knack to learning how to take corners well. Timing is crucial with a big coin based bonus given to you for pulling it off perfectly, even more so if you do it multiple times in a row.

Coins are used to buy new cars, upgrade existing cars, and unlock new tracks, so it’s fortunate that they come along at a steady pace. You can buy more for a price, but I didn’t really find a need to do so as simply playing the game gets you there in the end. There’s no energy system either, so you’re not restricted there. The only notably cynical feature is when it comes to continuing the game. If you run out of time not long before a checkpoint, the game asks you if you want to watch an advert in order to gain six more seconds of game time. Odds are you’ll end up doing it too, but it does feel a bit sneaky, especially as paying for the ad-removal in-app purchase doesn’t remove this feature.

Cynicism aside, Mega Drift is pretty fun. It’s not the deepest or most complex of games by any means, but it’ll scratch that five minute gaming itch that we all have to deal with throughout a busy day.