Sling Drift review

Developer: Tasty Pill

Price: Free
Version: 2.3
App Reviewed on: Android

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Overall Rating:

Sling Drift tasks you with guiding your car around a randomly-generated racetrack, and with each curve, slinging it around in order to achieve a perfect drift without crashing into the grass. Controls are simple: just tap and hold in order to extend the arm that will sling your car around the curve, and let go when you've been flung far enough to continue.

It's an easy and pretty entertaining concept, and one that could make for a nice entry into the "play a few rounds on your coffee break" category of games. Unfortunately, there's a number of things here that get in the way of really being able to enjoy Sling Drift as much as you could.

The first, and most noticeable one, is the intrusive ads. Like so many other free games, Sling Drift includes ads, unless you purchase either the ad-free version or a subscription to the VIP version. Otherwise, ads pop up after almost every round, making it pretty tough to get into a good rhythm.

Tokyo Drift

As you work your way around the racetrack, you'll earn gemstones for completing different challenges and for completing a certain number of turns. These can be used to unlock different skins for your tiny car, and though they don't give you any advantage, they at least give you something to work towards.

The physics of the game feel a little imprecise - it's difficult to get a good sense for what, exactly, makes a perfect drift, though aiming as much as possible for the middle lane seems to be a good start. Certainly a game like this requires some practice to get the feel down, but the oddly sensitive controls, combined with the constantly-interrupting ads, make that pretty difficult.

There's no soundtrack to speak of, only a few minor sound effects, and it would have been nice to have at least some background to the game rather than just the sound of tires squealing. Overall Sling Drift has the potential to be a fairly entertaining game, but the squishy physics make it tougher than it should be, especially if you don't spring for the in-app purchase.