Remember 90’s slot car racing ? Scalextric racing with remote controls were definitely the moment of me being a kid. Anki Overdrive is a modern recreation of that which enhances the experience of putting the remote on your phone. Overdrive is based on the old platform of Anki Drive that was riddled with bugs when it first came out in 2014. Overdrive, I’m happy to note, fixes all that and has ever since been addictive.
Setting up
The starter kit includes a pair of cars, ten pieces of track and you can build any layout quite easily. Extras include two cars which are sold individually and separately and extended tracks which you can build larger and crazier tracks, one even let’s you make the cars jump. The app is quite heavy though ( 500 mb ) and after you’ve charged the cards which run about 20 minutes on a single charge, you’re good to go.
The game allows you to race with a maximum of four cars. Even if you don’t have friends to play with you, you can play Anki Overdrive’s extensive single player campaign against the AI which I have to admit learns pretty quickly. Other than basic racing there’s battle mode and king of the hill. Your cars evolve with time unlocking weapons which you can buy with points you get by racing, this is done in game and not microtransactions so you really have to grind to get them but with the amount you’ll play, it gets easier. The list of weapons is to say, it’s quite extensive. Before the beginning of every race, the IR camera sensors underneath the cars scan the track and visualize the layout to the phone, it’s an impressive piece of applying technology. Once this is done, the cars do a test lap and get themselves to the starting line.
The Race
Think Mario Kart meets Scalextric, you control the car with the app and you can fire weapons that are detected by the sensors around the card. If a car gets hit, the lights flash and slows down and take enough hits, the car will stall for a second. Did I mention the AI learn your tactics and adapt accordingly ?
Should you buy it ?
It goes without saying that this is a quite the investment, but it’s an ideal birthday gift or christmas present especially if you have a family and want to buy one. Sure you can buy it for your kid but it’s very likely you’re going to fight them to play it more.
