Moto Chaser Review
Wingnuts Moto Chaser is a motorcycle racing game developed by Freeverse, Inc exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This fast paced racing game features three selectable racers and ten unlockable tracks. Moto Chaser is currently retailing for $5.99 at the iTunes store.

Moto Chaser Storyline

Wingnuts Moto Chaser has a very weird and disconnected story line which apparently involves some sort of evil troops who kidnap your cat and party with your girls. Seriously, it’s weird. At the start of each new level players are presented with an image chronicling the exploits of these futuristic looking evil doers. The story line is confusing, out of place, a tad cheesy and seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the game. My Recommendation would be to drop the whole “cat kidnapping” thing and replace the pre level graphics with a nice illustration or render of the current level.

Moto Chaser Gameplay

After starting up Moto Chaser players select one of the three riders, choose an unlocked track and head for the starting line. Controlling your rider is pretty basic. Press the on screen gas button to accelerate and tilt left and right to steer. While accelerating and slowing feels just about right, the tilt controls are a little twitchy and take some time to get used to.

As you race through the various levels you will encounter three of Moto Chasers major game elements: check points, speed power-ups and enemy riders. Passing through a checkpoint extends your available time and running through a speed power up gives you a point bonus and sudden burst of speed. Occasionally, you will pass by another rider at which point you can engage in some bike to bike combat. The enemy riders are sparse and the combat is sluggish and uninspired. Luckily, it’s such a small part of the game that it doesn’t cause any major problems.

Finishing a course before time runs out will unlock the next available level and display your score. The ten courses are all unique and well executed. Some feel like a stroll through the country, while others are fairly technical and challenging. The game has a difficulty setting which didn’t seem to effect my gameplay much. A few level checkpoints seemed to be poorly placed which yielded a slightly inconsistent challenge from level to level. The “Rumbles in The Jungle” course had one check point which was frustratingly harder to get through then the rest.

MotoChaser is liking bowling with bumbers. Instead of crashing or being severely penalized for going off course, your rider is gently guided back towards the drivable area with only slight time penalties. If you happen to be on a course with cliffs you’ll see of black screen before being reset onto a drivable area. I really didn’t have a huge problem with the lack of obstacle crashing or off course penalties, but the buggy “off course” position reset bothered me a lot. The narrow cliff section of the “Rumbles in The Jungle” course was the worst offender of this problem, sometimes resetting your position for no apparent reason.

Moto Chaser Graphics

The graphics and animations are all very well done in Moto Chaser. The riders are a tad stock looking but the menus, bikes, and courses all look pretty good. The leg drag animation which happens when accelerating from a stopped position looked really cool. Other then the above mentioned “cat kidnapping” images, I don’t have any problems with the graphics.

Moto Chaser Sound

Moto Chaser has some pretty aggressive sounds. The looping music track(s) are a little over the top and get to be very tiring after the the fourth or fifth go around. The voice over for the “ready” and “go” start words sounded like they were done in house or by a friend. It’s probably just my punk rock blown out ear drums, but there was just something about that voice that didn’t sound professional to me. The other in game sound effects all compliment the game nicely.

Moto Chaser Price

Wingnuts Moto Chaser is currently selling for $5.99. It’s a decent racing game but needs a few more features, bug fixes and production polish to warrant the six buck price tag. I think $2.99 or $3.99 would be more reasonable for the game’s current release.

Moto Chaser Summary

Moto Chaser for the iPhone and iPod Touch is a decent motorcycle racing game. The ten levels, all of which sport full 3d rendering, air time replays and brief combat, are fun and different enough to hold a race fans attention for a few days of gaming. With that said, the game would really shine with some more polish, a few bug fixes and the addition of unlockable riders. If you really like racing games and have the patience to adapth to sensative controls and a few lingering bugs, Wingnuts Moto Chaser may be worth a look.

By: Aaron Robbins