If in Alto’s Adventure players ski around a snowy wonderland, in Alto’s Odyssey, they ski on desert sands.
FEELING the breeze on my face as I ski downhill is an amazing feeling. I have always wanted to try skiing but I never thought I would end up skiing on desert sand. I wish I could savour the passing view if not for the crowds of lemurs chasing to eat me.
In Alto’s Odyssey, you are presented with the wonderful premise of skiing across a beautiful wide, open desert. Now, how many times can a game offer a ski experience on desert sand?
Alto’s Odyssey is the brainchild of game developers Snowman and Harry Nesbit, who also worked on the equally breath-taking prequel, Alto’s Adventure.
While the latter takes place in a snowy wonderland, the developers have decided to change the setting from snow to sand for this newest incarnation.
It is such a wonderful surprise and I do not expect this out of the box. Far from being boring, this change of scenario is just wonderful to behold.
VISUALS
I love the beautiful desert vistas. The first game puts you on a snowy European mountaintop complete with pine forests and small cottages. However, while it is beautiful, it does look a bit colourless.
Alto’s Odyssey inserts more sunshine and bright colours to reflect the desert background and that alone can make a big change in terms of mood. Colourful hot air balloons litter the skies and you can even bounce on them too.
Desert villages seem to pop up straight from the movie Lawrence of Arabia. It creates such a lively mood. This puts a smile on my face.
GAMEPLAY
Alto’s Odyssey is a next-generation endless runner type of game (or to be more exact, endless skier). “Next generation” because there are so many enhancements in terms of visuals, gameplay elements and variety of goals to keep you returning to the game.
Usually the endless runner genre of games quickly runs out of steam because there are limited things to experience other than to survive.
When the game starts, it gives you three goals to accomplish in order to advance to the next level. Once all three are completed, a random set of goals will be given to the player.
The level progression offers more bonuses in terms of unlocking new characters.
So, besides Alto, you can play a variety of six characters, each with their own strength and weaknesses. This also creates more incentives for players to keep returning to the game.
CHALLENGES
It’s not all smooth-sailing for Alto. There are those who want to put a stop to our hero.
In the previous game, there was a vicious angry old man of the mountain. Here, the antagonist comes in the forms of lemurs.
While I love lemurs in real life, the sight of them in this game really makes my heart beat quickly.
Their pixel depiction is cute. There is a way to escape them, which is to jump across the various chasms. Thankfully, lemurs hate chasms.
CONCLUSION
All in all, this is a great mobile game. This definitely falls into the category of games you buy just to show off to friends how beautiful mobile games have become.
If games have a category for artistic value, Alto’s Odyssey deserves a spot on that list. Although it is still early in the year, I won’t be surprised if this game ends up in my best 10 iPhone games of 2018.
Verdict: 4.8/5