Speedonauts PC Review 7/10 "Speedonauty, Very Nauty…" 🎿 @WorldAwayGames #IndieGames #GameDev

Alto, the lonely goatherd and toadly gnarly snowboarder have a lot to answer for. Fire up one of his adventures on your phone and time has a tendency to disappear. This sideways scrolling endless runner game had a beautiful simplicity to it and a series of increasingly difficult challenges that draws you back in. And draw me in they did.

So, when presented with the opportunity to take a closer look at World Away’s Speedonauts, I was excited, but also concerned about developing another snowsport addiction.

Speedonauts is not a complicated game. There is a starting point. There is an endpoint. Get from one to the other quickly enough and you unlock the next level, unlock medals and beat your own, and others’ times. Simple. You can run (slowly) and you can ski (quickly), with a limited-use jetpack to give you a boost when you need it (and timing them boosts is critical).

Each level is a little more complex and may take a few runs to work out your tactics, but once you’ve cleared each track, you either have another to try OR you can go back and try and shave seconds off your best. Get that next medal. Get that new PB. And, like Alto before him, Mr Speedonaut had me going back for more again and again.

Its simplicity serves it well and the speed you fly along is dizzying, but this does mean that much of the challenge is about reactions and almost memorising your moves as the landscape flies past too quickly to really react in real time. And, there is a requirement to go through a series of gates along the way and I sometimes missed those and wasn’t clear on where they were, meaning I’d have to slowly go through the level to work out the right route (which takes away from the immediacy).

I did find that the appeal lessened a little as the levels got really tough, but as one of life’s less able gamers, this could just be a reflection on me…

Lastly, and definitely, not leastly, there is the track editor. This is harder to write about without the time it would require to really explore it and get others to try my tracks, but from the time I’ve had with it, it really adds value and longevity to the game. Because the game itself is straightforward, the editor is similarly so.

You drag around lines to map out the mountains and add scenery by dropping things in the edit window. The couple of maps I tried myself worked perfectly, which I was pleasantly surprised by as I was expecting much teeth gnashing and repeat efforts before I got a usable result.

SUMMARY

I’d say check out the videos and trailers for this game as what you see is what you get. It’s not going to appeal to all and it’s hardly varied, but it is challenging and well-executed.

It’s smooth, simple and invites repeat play. I’m not sure how keen I am to push through with some of the really hard levels, as they are more punishing than Thomas Jane taking Year 10 detention, but the addition of an editor and user-made levels opens up a world that will entice physics games fans and keep them interested.