LightBike
Trying to work off the nostalgia provided by the Tron Light Cycles, LightBike turns out to be a quite a success. Surely you’ve seen this app reach number 1 on the charts a while ago, and not to be confused with a similar title, Light Riders, LightBike is a well polished and entertaining game which everyone will enjoy.
If you don’t know how the gameplay works, then here it is. You and 3 other players each control your very own LightBike, racing around on a square grid. As they travel, a solid wall trails after the LightBike, and the goal is to have your opponents run into any of the walls, while avoiding them yourself. It takes a lot of strategy to out think the opponents, and force them to run into a wall, either by trapping them inside an inescapable box, or to quickly change your path and force an opposing player to run into a wall. There is also a boost option, so it’s wise to save those sudden bursts of speed when you really need it; either to escape from an opponent or to quickly block them off. The first player to win 3 rounds is declared the overall victor.
Controls are tight and easily executed. Tap the right side of the screen to go right, and tap the left side to go left. Additionally, the boost buton is in the middle, which is activated by tapping it. Once the command is given, response is almost immediate, with no lag at all, so it really does feel like you’re in the action.
Graphically, the game is pretty well done, with streamlined visuals, and the framerate is decent, with rarely any noticeable lag, but there’s really nothing really fancy about how the game looks. The boost effects look really good, giving a nice sense of speed, plus the colors are all bright and easily noticeable. You can tell some of the images are pixelated, but the graphics aren’t bad by any means.
Now the sounds of LightBike are decent, but the music starts over at the start of every round, and since the rounds are so short, the soundtrack gets real old quickly. The sound effects are pretty well done, but just like the music, they become repetitve and a bore to listen to. So so sound effects don’t take away from the game, but they don’t really add anything to it either.
With LightBike, you can either play by yourself against the computer, on easy, normal, or hard modes, split screen with another player, or you can play over Wi-Fi (LAN only currently). Wi-Fi gameplay is actually very smooth, and can allow up to 4 people to play against each other. Playing against the computer can be quite a bore after a while, even on the harder difficulties, where after you get the hang of the game, it can be quite easy to outwit the AI. However, playing with another person boosts the fun factor by quite a lot, as matches turn out to be much more intense and unpredictable, adding to the life of the game.
That said, LightBike doesn’t really offer anything than that one basic game mode. This shortens the amount of playtime that will come out of this app considerably, and some more varitety would be welcome. Different maps or game modes would vary the gameplay much more, and right now LightBike is only good for short spurts of gaming. Even a high scores list, achievements, a win and loss tracker, or other goodies would greatly improve this game. It’s great for casual gaming sessions that only last a few minutes, but after a while, the excitement starts to wear off, and there’s just not that much that would bring a person back to this app over and over agin.
The only thing that will change up the gameplay are some of the options that are available. They include changing the number of rounds required to win, turning boost on/off, setting a time limit, and adjusting the field size. Not drastic changes, but they do at least make for a more varied gaming experience.
In the end LightBike is an enjoyable game at first, but gets dull after a while. It will provide entertainment to all who first touch it, and is great to play with friends, but when just playing by yourself, a lack of options and different ways to play the game limit the app’s potential. $2.99 is a bit much for LightBike but if it were to go back down to 99 cents, then it would be a recommended buy. If you’re still unsure about the game, there’s always the lite version to try out.
The Good
Fun pick up and play gamestyle
Graphics are decent
Multiplayer is awesomeThe Bad
Could be more difficult
Unspectacular sounds
Boredom sets in fast
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Category: Games
ive never played anything like this. Looks really cool though so ill try out the lite version.
i dont have this game but i got the other one like this, the name is slipping my mind at the moment. THis one seems nice too though.
i tried the lite version and was slightly enamored. Maybe not worth its current price but it still looks like fun.
i toyed with buying this at $.99 but i would never spend more than that on this. Still, seems like its a lot of fun.
this app looks amazing!!! i have the light version and it’s one of my favorite games, and the multiplayer and other features make the full one definitely worth the buy
based on gameplay video and the lite version of Litebike, i think i prefer this over Light Ridgers simply because the turns are so much more swift and precise.
i used to love me some tron. I loved the lite version of this app so i think ill love the full one.
Good ole tron days
the controls look easy enough
love the demo play it all the time fun and exciting and you can play with lots of people still havent got game though
i played the lite version of this quite a lot but never found it worth it to get the full one. I really liked the gameplay and i like the simplicity.
Tried the lite version and enjoyed it greatly, but not sure if it is worth 2.99.
I have tried the ltie version. It’s really fun. Could be harder and easier to play.
This seems pretty cool if it were 0.99.
Tron was the funniest thing I’ve seen a while. (Saw it last summer…late, I know, lol.) Light Bike Lite was pretty good, but I wish that there was remote online multiplayer. As it is, it seems like a fun game to pick up every now and then.
This game concept has been cloned sooo many times…it’s a wonder that there wasn’t a clone already. (Not one that I heard of, anyway.)
I loved Tron, so I’ll definitely have to check this out.
I have the lite version, and it’s fun, but not polished at all. 2 player and wifi sound like nice additions though.
really like the lite version, so the full version should be much better. especially since you can play online.
I had never heard of this kind of game before this. I got the lite version and it was decent but was not good enough for me to buy it.
I loved tron.. But hated the light bikes because they were too hard for me!! I’m better now and have the lite version on my ipod. It’s really fun and graphics are great.
I loved this game for the PC; and now that they make it for the iPhone, I’m sure to get it soon…
this is a great game but not worth 2.99 good thing i got it for 0.99
Definitely was worth it for a dollar but there is no way I would’ve bought it for three.
its really good .. you can pla it alone or with a friedn .. you have to think fast wehn turning on the turbo .. but it last only for 6 seconds … the graphic is in retro style .. but its fun if you sit in the bus with your mate .. you can play with him
I bought this the day it came out and it was $0.99. I agree, it worth that but not $2.99