Return Zero a TRON-Like Mega-Fast Tunnel Racing Android Game
by Paul Wilks
Jun 10, 2011 2:56 PM –
Install
Return Zero is a psychedelic, hold-on-tight, mega-fast tunnel racing game. The game offer blisteringly fast graphics, accelerometer controls, an absolutely kicking soundtrack and a variety of worlds and tracks to explore. The tunnels you zoom down look a bit like you are somehow stuck in a TRON-like virtual world, either that or you are somehow part of the Android Honeycomb environment. The game is buckets of fun and highly addictive.
Price: Free, ~$1.75
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Blindingly fast.
- Highly addictive.
- Lots of tracks.
- Superb soundtrack.
- Gorgeous graphics.
- OpenFeint scoring.
Cons
- Needs a high-end device.
- Some people might find it repetitive.
Features:
Return Zero puts you in control of a nifty little speeder craft as it hurtles down some mazy tunnels. The idea is to go through as many of the blue gates as you can and avoid the red and yellow ones. The more blue gates you hit the faster you go… hit lots consecutively and suddenly everything- music, graphics, visuals- distorts and time starts going backwards. If you miss a blue gate you suddenly slow down and feel physically jolted by the experience.
At the end of each level you get your time and percentage of gates you hit. You have to have high scores to unlock the later worlds, but it’s definitely worth the patience. The game is very simple to play but obviously gets harder the faster your speeder goes.
The controls are both onscreen- brake and up/down and by the accelerometer- to move from side to side. You really have to keep your wits about you as, at speed, it becomes very tricky to hit every gate properly. All this time there is very cool thumping dance soundtrack, that I would like to personally beg the developer for the MP3 of, it’s that cool.
In the full version of the game there is 5 worlds and you get about 5 tracks in each world. There’s not a huge amount of difference between the worlds besides color, but the later tracks are increasingly tricky and have more red gates coming at you.
What really blew me away with this game was the speed, you really rip down those tunnels at one hell of a rate. Missing a gate almost feels like hitting a brick wall, you slow down immediately and have to go through more gates to speed up again. While some people might find it a bit repetitive, there’s a huge amount of fun to be had unlocking the later worlds and beating your previous times. The game is therefore very additive and I have found myself going back to the game again and again.
Return Zero requires a relatively high-end device and doesn’t support Droid Eris, Motorola Cliq, HTC Wildfire, HTC Tattoo, HTC Hero or other lower-end devices. The ZTE Blade has partial support, but its definitely worth trying the free version of the game to see if your device can cope with it.
Watch on Mobile
-
-
Return Zero – In game view 1
-
-
Return Zero – In game view 2
-
-
Return Zero – In game view 3
-
-
Return Zero – In game view 4
-
-
Return Zero – Worlds Menu
-
-
Return Zero – Various tracks per World.
-
-
Return Zero – Complete Worlds to unlock more.
-
-
Return Zero – Options
-
-
Return Zero – Menu
Fun Factor:
The game delivers fun in large virtual buckets, it’s one of the most hair-raising experiences you can get on an Android device. You can almost feel the G-force.
Addictive:
Massively addictive, you will want to beat your scores again and again. It’s quick to play too, most levels take, at most, 90 seconds to complete (and that’s if you’re really slow!!). This means the game is immediately pick-up-and-playable.
Graphics:
Graphics are smooth and drop-dead fast. Visuals are quite innovative and cool and the game seems to like squeezing the very best performance out of your device.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The accelerometer is very responsive- and trust me, it really needs to be. You can switch the vibration on or off, although it adds little to be honest. The sound is really cool and despite it just being the same pumping dance track, I personally never really get bored of it.