MountainBike Challenge

Free to play downhill mountain biking race game with online components

Mountain Bike Challenge is all about downhill mountain bike racing. The key to the game seems that it is relatively easy to play, but difficult to master. Racers race against ghost images of runs made by other real players after qualifying on that course. All times are recorded on an online leader board and any player can challenge any other player's time. The system is pretty straight forward, but there are multiple maps for some variety. the challenge, of course, is finding the quickest way down the mountain which might not always be the obvious. The game is free to play, supported by some advertising. There isn't an option for buying more premium content or more tracks.

Game Play

Game play focuses on racing, although not in the way you'd expect. Instead of playing as a racer in a traditional multi player race where all players are actively competing at the same time, Mountain Bike Challenge has players race against Ghosts of other players that have set course scores previously. Each player must qualify on a course to begin with, making it down the mountain within a certain amount of time to gain the right to challenge another player's Ghost. Player's can challenge any ghost on the leader board and by following another player's ghost, you can learn how the top racers are able to make it down in record setting times. Odds are the lack of a huge number of courses is going to limit the entertainment value of Mountain Bike Challenge, but since it is a free game there isn't a lot of commitment by the player besides time.

Presentation

Mountain Bike Challenge looks like a standard 3D simulation game. the models are average and the landscapes are adequately designed. The courses are laid out interestingly enough, but lack of content is the drawback. Players don't have options to choose different bikes, equipment or riders so the game is very specifically skill based, the only variation from player to play are their skills as a racer and the paths down the mountain that they choose. Sound is adequate, but nothing spectacular.

Pros

• Interesting concept and great leader board system
• Simple to learn controls with a hard to master mentality

Cons

• More maps would be greatly improve the game
• Some options for different bikes, equipment or riders would add some variety