Racing games coupled with the iDevice’s accelerometer control option works extremely well. Thankfully, developers are going above and beyond your typical racers, expanding the genre, and creating new and unique games. QuBIT, Protoxide, Axon Runners and others are great examples of this. Green Ferry Games first iOS release, Lightraycer, is another attempt at pushing the genre beyond the typical trends.
In Lightraycer, you control a space ship trying to outrun a supernova blast by racing along a track through space. The controls are typical of other racers on the platform, tilt to move, but you can also jump by tapping on the screen. With the inclusion of the jump mechanic, Green Ferry was able to include light walls, breaks in the track and falling orbs which slow your ship down.
The graphics in Lightraycer are fantastic, with beautiful, vibrant backgrounds, a great looking track, and when the supernova gets closer behind you, the sides of the screen start closing in on you with a bright orange and yellow glow accompanying shaking from the blast. Unfortunately, this is pretty much all that the game encompasses.
There’s only one gameplay mode, one ship, no power-ups, no GameCenter or OpenFeint integration, no objectives, and no real drive to keep playing, or get a better score, which makes Lightraycer seem like a pretty bland and basic title when compared to the rest of the genre. This is made more disappointing by the core gameplay, which has loads of potential, but isn’t taken advantage of.
Being priced at $1.99, it’s hard to recommend Lightraycer, especially with so many other great racers for the iOS at either the same price or cheaper. Until more is added on to the game, chances are it’s not going to reach it’s target audience, and will fade into the background as so many other iOS titles have, which is unfortunate, because there’s clearly talent behind the game, and unique ideas floating around Green Ferry Games studio which isn’t being fully taken advantage of.
