Game Review: Wind Rider! (Mobile – Free to Play)

Another mobile free to play game, another Voodoo release. Yes, the prolific developer continues its trend of quick pick up and play games with little gameplay, little replay value but also strangely addictive for a short while. That’s Wind Rider!

This review is for version 1.3.

Wind Rider puts you in control of a wing-suited character and your job is to make it to the finish line in first place. There are several other competitors (AI controlled) and for a while they will beat you with ease. To help you get that elusive first place, you need to move your rider through red rings for speed boosts.

The better place you finish, the more money you’ll earn. Which can then be spent on increasing your max speed, the boosts you get from red rings and money earned. Many games follow this formula and Wind Rider doesn’t change it up at all.

Like most Voodoo games, the money spent in game is not part of an in-app purchase. Something many other developers could do with copying. Instead Voodoo always go the ads route but unfortunately they are so heavy with it. We’re talking ads every few turns and they seem to increase in frequency the longer you play.

Removing ads costs the standard £2.99 and as per usual, Wind Rider does little to actually earn that money. Instead it seems as though Voodoo are banking on you getting frustrated with the constant interruptions so you pay out.

That might work if Wind Rider was a good game but it’s not. It’s choppy and ugly to look at. The controls might be simple (touch the screen to move around) but the sensitivity is off meaning tight spaces are hard to navigate. It’s quite annoying because you’ll want to stick close to buildings as extra money can be earned this way.

After playing so many Voodoo free to play games you can’t help but wonder if perhaps the developer took more time and focused on creating a deeper experience they’d be better off. Instead they’re beginning to get a name as one of the free to play developers who spam the stores hoping to catch lightening in a bottle just once.

Wind Rider is not that game.