This week’s app of the week is similar to the first game I covered in this series since it’s a bike game, but it has it’s addicting differences. Mad Skills Motocross 2 lets you race against two digital opponents, one at a time, in a campaign mode, there’s a Jam mode that has global ranking with multiple divisions for serious competition, and it has an excellent Versus mode where you get two minutes to challenge other riders in a duo. You start off as a novice rider with a basic bike and gear, but as you progress through the career mode and dabble in the multi-player modes you will begin to unlock various items that will help improve your ride and style. If you can’t wait and want to pay the ridiculously overpriced cost for premium features then head over to the shop on the main page of the app. One premium perk that caught my eye was the ability to race against three others in JAM mode, but it isn’t worth the price tag for me. You can also pay to upgrade to newer bikes and there are premium colors to paint your bike too.
CAREER
Career mode has 5 divisions with 60 tracks total. The first time you race a track you race against a novice bot rider and if you beat his time you get to try the track again against the Ace bot who puts a little more pressure on you! In this mode you can use rockets for a short speed boost, but hold onto them, because you have to earn extra ones by coming back to the game daily or purchasing more. To unlock some of the higher divisions you need to get involved in the multi-player action and one perk isn’t achieved until you’ve made 1000 attempts to race other players.
JAM (multi-player)
Jam mode has a global leader board that reset every Thursday when two new tracks are introduced. Play as often as you like trying to get your best time on the two tracks and if you put in enough time the following week you move up to a new division. When you make it to division one you unlock a helmet with RedBull stickers. What I like about Jam mode is that you can restart your race as many times as you’d like giving you as many attempts to beat your opponent as possible. There’s no excuse to finish a race with your best time in this mode. After you beat a rider on these tracks the next rider is usually faster than the previous one.
VERSUS (multi-player)
I play this mode the most, because it’s fun and challenging. You can find friends from your social networks or race random opponents. You get two minutes to complete a race recording with your best time. When time expires, your best race is sent to an opponent who races against the recording and then gets to choose from three tracks to record a race to send back. At the end of a race both racers are awarded with points that increase the racers skill level. When a new skill level is reached a one minute time bonus is rewarded. These time bonuses can be used when you are racing and the regular two minute time window expires and you need more time to perfect your race result.
Bike handling
The bike has a sweet spot when you lean back, but if you go too far you will over rotate and crash. The objective to a good race is to stay smooth. Lean forward as you advance across the starting line and lean back before jumps and right as you are landing to get close to that sweet spot to pull ahead of your opponent.
Tracks and racers
The tracks are designed well, some feel like they are in an arena, some in the woods, and some are in the desert. Each bike can fly around the tracks, because they have been designed well enough to support the speed a capabilities of each type of bike. Riders look like people and are scaled well to the bike.
If you start playing this game or already do please add me so we can race each other, my gamer tag is htcfan and you can add me in the VERSUS menu by tapping NEW CHALLENGE and ADD FRIEND.
Mad Skills Motocross 2 is a fun time waster with daily and weekly perks for returning racers. Jump into the Versus mode to race people all over the world or take on the bots in the campaign races.
