➤ Bike Unchained 2, the review 🎮

When you read the name of an authentic colossus like Red Bull associated with a mobile game, it would be reasonable to expect a work of a certain caliber, especially if it is a sequel like the Bike Unchained 2 subject of this review: instead we are here to talk about a title obviously with a very limited budget, poor in both technical means and ideas and that succeeds in the not easy feat of ruining what little that had been built by the not exciting first chapter. In short, what is called an uphill start ...

Like the first ... but worse

The first thing that catches the eye of Bike Unchained 2 is the huge stylistic gap between this title and its predecessor: completely abandoned the comic air, the bright colors and the emphasis on the story of the first episode, we find ourselves with a product that completely renounces the narrative component (and this can also be seen as a positive fact) and comes up with an incredibly lean and dated look, which points to greater realism without obviously having the possibilities. Raw polygonal models, scenarios with an elementary composition and menus that seem to have been fished out of a ten-year-old game are therefore on the agenda in Bike Unchained 2, testifying to an evident laziness in development which unfortunately was not limited to the technical sector. . Even from an exquisitely playful point of view, in fact, little or nothing has changed compared to the previous title, which is quite serious considering that we are not really talking about a flawless masterpiece. The bulk of the experience is therefore again represented by downhill races that offer little room for interaction: the cyclist on the screen follows the track autonomously, and the player has the sole task of keeping his finger pressed on the touchscreen to make him gain speed downhill or to make him land on two wheels after a jump, as well as perform quick taps in the uphill sections to make it pedal and thus not waste precious seconds. The winner is the one who reaches the finish line in the shortest time possible, with the opponents represented by three ghosts of real (or presumed) users with their respective performances.

From time to time there are also slopestyle competitions focused on the execution of tricks, an authentic weak point of the first Bike Unchained and that the developers have well thought of keeping substantially unchanged in all their very poor effectiveness. Too bad, because the basis for a potentially enjoyable title would also be there: the gameplay is perfectly suited to mobile use and the progression model is well studied, but everything else is simply too mediocre to be able to emerge in a crowded landscape like the mobile one. Even in his way of interpreting the free to play category, Bike Unchained 2 is one of many: there is the usual dual currency model, the package rewards system, the upgrades to improve your bike, the aesthetic accessories with which to customize the cyclist, the weekly challenges and everything that has already been seen in thousands of titles analogues. The good thing is that you can go on for free without too many problems, but where in-app purchases do not arrive, it is very likely that - even well in advance - an inevitable and profound boredom.

Comment

Tested version Android (1.6.4.) Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

5.0

Readers (3)

5.8

Your vote

Bike Unchained 2 is free, does not have overly restrictive free-to-play mechanisms and is all in all pleasant in the first few bars, but here the positive aspects of a production that is really too tight on savings end, which does not even try to improve the (many) defects. of its predecessor and which even manages to take a few steps backwards especially as regards the visual system. It is therefore impossible to guarantee a sufficiency for a product made with such laziness, which probably only die-hard MTB fans could tolerate for more than a few short games.