The Last Driver (Universal app By Chillingo)

[Sanuku]

Low bandwidth Version | Pop Up

[Exact-Psience]

Yeah.... Instant download indeed.

[psj3809]

Loved watching Sankus video, looks a great game. I moved the playhead to a few various places so 'perhaps' i missed it

But is it just one endless level ? Or is it various levels cut up so if you die you can restart from that point ?

[Dan@Chillingo]

Originally Posted by psj3809

Loved watching Sankus video, looks a great game. I moved the playhead to a few various places so 'perhaps' i missed it

But is it just one endless level ? Or is it various levels cut up so if you die you can restart from that point ?

It's endless. The environment changes but you are playing one 'level' for want of a better word.

[psj3809]

Ahhh okay thanks for letting me know, love the look of this and will be getting it later whatever. Please dont crash on my ipod touch !

[Eraser74]

Does this work on 3gen iPod touches? There is no mention that it doesn´t so I keep my fingers crossed it will!

[Ayjona]

Originally Posted by psj3809

Damn i hate these 'quiet' August weeks with iOS releases, roll on September when the 'big boys' arrive ! (Baldurs Gate etc)

In between TWEWY and Bastion (oh, to have that ported to iPhone), I rather think there has never been such a noisy, big boyish August week

The Last Driver looks like a welcome attempt to force the genre that is making some look back with fond longing towards the time of the Angry clones to undergo at least some small amount of evolution. I always find myself wishing that endless runners would include more peripheral and auxiliary systems, a sense of greater context (perhaps some sort of metagame where stuff picked up during runs is used to build some sort of home base, or wastelands settlement for a post-apocalyptic runner such as The Last Driver, that in turn grants passive bonuses and special abilities, plus includes some nifty online social mechanics).

While The Last Driver might not provide me with anything of the kind, it looks just plain fun and evolved enough to justify a download (though with The World Ends With You now on my device, I doubt I'll play much of anything that does not send me back to Shibuya to take a stylish stand against the hippest forces of darkness ever to grace digital entertainment...)

[Exact-Psience]

Downloading now. I hope it's good. I want it to be good.

[Exact-Psience]

Hmm... ALL the GUI buttons (menus and ingame) feel weird without any animations to them. Also, the game stutter a lot on the 4s, even after a full restart and a cleared cache.

Also, the Touch1 controls are a bit of good and bad for me. I love how the Left and Right arrows are implemented, but having a jump button on the left and a shoot button on the right feels weird. Im sure it's just me, but it's weird.

Touch2 is also decent, but having a keypad on the left and buttons on the right dont feel right to me, mostly because of the gameplay mechanic.

The tilt works best the way I see it, even if I always prefer touch over tilt. Having a sensitivity slider is a nice addition.

The background are spectacular though. I love having to see such variety similar to TheEnd, where the background segments are different each run, and there is a platformy feel to the way the levels are designed. Cars falling off bridges, burning buildings, a dinosaur crossing the streets, nice.

Im still not giving up as this game has potential, but i am concerned at how little coins i get every run. I guess the freemium-ness is starting to show.

EDIT: Here's another thing that doesnt feel right. When you start a game, the initial intro scene... Then a pause with the missions. O_o

Kinda destroys the momentum from that good angle into driving mode.

FINAL VERDICT: I love the way the game looks, but this game feels totally unpolished. From menu buttons, to the default apple loading animation at the center of the screen while everything pauses, to the missions screen pause (when a run starts), to the weird touch controls (although this can just be me), to the concept of having limited jumps (limited shots are ok, having a limit on jumps for a runner type game just doesnt feel right, although i think this is ok to some extent). Some of these are ok and definitely acceptable, but im sure improvements can be implemented, especially on the menu buttons, unnecessary missions screen pausing, and the loading pauses with that apple loading icon (a unique ingame loading icon would be so much bettter). Im sure i can just adapt to the limited jumps and shots in time.

The only thing giving me a decent amount of coins are the missions. The ones im getting from the run itself are totally unbalanced in proportion to the stuff that are being sold. Although $1 for 10000 coins is somewhat generous. so i will buy that if the menu buttons are updated somehow, and that would draw me more into the game. It might just be me, but the menu buttons are just too raw for me.

I cant recommend this game much yet, but i guess everyone can try since this is a freemium.

[Capricornman]

I'll still get it tonight and try it out
It's sounding like a lite version right now
How much play can be had before the need for IAP?