Alto's Odyssey | Review

REVIEW :

You must have patience if you're dizzy with all of the options in Alto's Adventure. At first, the game appears to be very similar. If not, you take control of Alto or many other characters as they navigate through desert landscapes on a sandboard. Sandboarding indeed exists, and it's great. Backflips can be executed by tapping and holding the screen; however, a safe landing is necessary to avoid crashes. If you land a flip, your speed will increase. If you combine several moves, like flips and grinds, you'll receive even greater boosts. Since you are unable to flip forward, you must release your hold in the hopes of landing gently on your board in order to adjust your position. In Alto's Odyssey, timing your flips is essential to success. Alto's Adventure's allure stemmed partly from its backflipping endless runner nature, akin to Ski Safari ($0.99), but with much more beauty. Furthermore, Alto's Odyssey surpasses Adventure in terms of ambiance creation. The game introduces various biomes, each with unique elements that set them apart from one another, and the desert environments are breathtaking. It is possible to spend several runs in a single biome before gradually transitioning to different ones, and the transitions feel quite organic. The day-night cycle and storms make for some stunning worlds and add variation to every run. Play the Zen Mode and start over whenever you crash if you just want to take in the scenery without worrying about failing. Since much of the fun in the game is in finding things out for yourself, I won't give away the new movement mechanic, but it adds a great new element to chaining together tricks and to building and maintaining speed throughout your runs. The feeling that you're exploring a new world and never knowing what you're going to get next is Alto's Odyssey's greatest strength. Although he only appears for a much shorter period of time, I do like that the elder from Alto's Adventure sort of makes a return in Alto's Odyssey. Because of the multiple playable characters, I say the game should be more appropriately called Maya’s Odyssey because she remains the superior character in the Alto franchise. Sure, she doesn’t pick up speed as quickly, but that’s not the key problem in the game, successfully landing backflips is a lot tougher. I suppose I understand that it teaches players to learn how to to backflip and to make smart decisions. But the game just gets to be a lot less frustrating with Maya and her ability to flip quicker than Alto can. If anything, I’d say that it’s easier to pick up speed with her because you can make more backflips with Maya than you can with Alto. But it also comes down to taste, I suppose. But much like in Alto’s Adventure, I find my self sticking with Maya. Of course, maybe Alto or one of the other characters you unlock is more your speed.

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