Drag Racing: Bike Edition-The Core Difference and Tips

Drag Racing: Bike Edition-The Core Difference and Tips

Drag Racing: Bike Edition is exactly what it sounds like: last year’s game, now with bikes.Find more on 9Game.

Core Differences in this Sequel

• Gear changes occur when your thumb leaves the screen.  Thus allowing you to keep your thumb on the screen and get more accurate gear changes.
• Due to the above point there doesn’t appear to be a second gear launch ability at the moment.
• The different gear shift zones on the rev meter will dynamically change for every gear to help you get perfect shifts.
• Nitros need to be purchased!  They’re not just there to freely use.
• You travel around the world to eight different cities so you get more variety in the racing scenes.
• Respect Points are now called Victory Points.

Under the hood:

• The Tuning Pack doesn’t need to be bought and comes as default.
• No money is earned whilst conducting races in the tuning race tests.
• One can buy and upgrade components.  There’s no penalty in switching out components anymore.  You can freely change and adapt the parts until you get the best setup.
• There’s much more clarity on when a bike will increase in level.

In essence there’s a clear trade off between the bike and car versions of these games.  Although there are some of the improvements listed above, the complexity of the bike upgrades is much greater.  This means that the bike can be more difficult to tune.  To put this difficulty into perspective: there are about 5 more upgrade subcategories, and the tuning has front and rear sprocket settings which you can adjust.

I think after creating their initial product they realised that the core of their game was actually under the hood.  So they’ve listened to their petrol head fans out there and delivered an improved version which hones in on the machine tuning.

Gut Feel:  

It’s fun to pip any opponent past the post.  This sequel does feel good, though I’m perhaps slightly biased since I’ve got a bit of an attraction towards bikes and have been buying real life biker gear recently!  Skewed opinion aside… I think those people who like competing and challenging would enjoy playing this.  You get to compete in the world arena in a short mini game where you can leave you opponents in the dust. 

Rating: 4/5

Drag Racing Bike Edition is a fun gear shifting game and an interesting sequel.  It’s slightly more alive than the car version and has a greater depth in game complexity.  At the same time it’s designed to be easier and more approachable for new players.  It’s hard to say whether the fresh racers would enjoy it much though because the 2D graphics are still an acquired taste.  Nonetheless, it’s probably best to enjoy this free game now as there’ll be the most people playing it at the moment!

Drag Racing Bike Edition Tips from Android Games Review

• It’s possible for you to get to the second half of the first area using the starting bike.
• Once you start losing then purchase the Swing Arm Extension (under the wheels upgrades).  This seems to deliver the most bang for your buck, and should be enough to push you further forward in that stage (though it’s not enough to beat the boss).
• We will put out some more game tips and share our bike tunes soon!
• If you have a rooted phone then check out this money hack!
• Don’t drink and drive kids!

Drag Racing: Bike Edition Review

Drag Racing: Bike Edition Review

Drag Racing: Bike Edition is exactly what it sounds like: last year’s game, now with bikes.Find more on 9Game.

From the outside looking in, drag racing looks pretty easy when you get down to it. I mean the building of the car seems like the tough part. On race day you just go fast and straight. Right? I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, but to the untrained eye it’s easy to miss any of those nuances. I’m not alone though, as the developers of Drag Racing: Bike Edition have boiled their gameplay down to something pretty super simple as well.

At its core the game really couldn’t be much simpler. It’s all about the flat out straight line drag race. As such there are no controls for turning or braking. Heck, even the acceleration is taken care of for you. All you’re responsible for is the perfect shift into the next gear, tapping the screen at just the right time to upshift and go just a little bit faster. Other than needing occasionally tap for a nitro boost, that’s really all there is to it.

So why is it so compelling? Well, the simplicity certainly has something to do with it. But in addition to that, there’s this tension that often arises as the short races proceed, because when you’re ahead only a perfect shift is going to keep you there. Likewise, when you have a bad start, the only way to catch up is to execute those shifts and nitros perfectly.

 It doesn’t hurt that the races only last for a few seconds at a time, so if you get the pants beat off you, it’s simple to tune the bike a bit differently and try it again. You’ll know in about three seconds whether or not you can win.

You’ll race for cash and prizes that you can use to upgrade your bike (or buy a whole new one). The garage lets you add ange things like engines, exhausts, tires, nitrous systems and  the like. Most upgrades either lighten the bike or increase the horsepower though, so  don’t expect that you’ll need to know the intricacies of bike tuning to figure it all out. It’s all pretty arcade-y. 

The problems that were present in the previous entry in the series, Drag Racing, are mostly here. The freemium model is still shaky, and developers need to tread lightly on when and where they impose microtransaction funnels. I found it a bit off-putting that I spent money earned in-game to put a nitro system on my bike, but then had to buy canisters of said nitro in order to use it in a race.

In addition that you also need a certain amount of RP (Racing Points) to open up some of the items for upgrade and some of the races. You can earn these in-game in order to open most items, however you run into a wall very early on where they begin to be in short supply, and you’re steered towards plunking down some money. With the system in place here, I’d much rather plunk down a few bucks to buy a complete game rather than run into these paywalls.

What’s especially frustrating about these micropayments here is that no matter what, the AI opponents will have access to those nitrous boosts, consistently putting you at a disadvantage unless you pony up a few extra dollars here and there. It’s either that or blow the cash you’d otherwise use for upgrades on the boosts. Either way, it just feels a bit too much like they’re taking advantage of you.

It’s strangely compelling for how simple it is, but then again I remember saying the same exact thing a year ago when I was talking about Drag Racing. If you played that title at all (and I played it a lot), then you realize pretty early on that Drag Racing: Bike Edition is really just the same exact game with a different vehicle set dropped on top. There’s nothing really different gameplay wise, and it all feels a little too familiar if you’ve been down this road before.