When it comes to mobile games, I don’t really expect them to last forever. There’s no shortage of both quick, pick up and play titles as well as deeper experiences, but for the most part I’m content with just enjoying a game while it lasts and then moving on to something else. That’s why it’s so impressive to me that Disc Drivin’ ($2.99), a game that came out late in 2010, is not only still on my device but it’s still something I play almost every day. Its unique brand of asynchronous, flick-based racing clicked with me instantly, and not only did we love the game in our initial review but a ton of content updates have kept Disc Drivin’ fresh for us hardcore players for a very long time, adding things like random matchmaking, customizable discs, and plenty of new tracks.
Perhaps even more impressive than Disc Drivin’ still being on my device nearly three years after release is the fact that it’s still being updated. Today an update hit which, among some nebulous fixes, adds the ability to play on all 25 of the game’s tracks in mirrored mode. I know that mirroring a track has long been a fairly easy way to extend the number of tracks in a racing game without actually building new tracks, but the move is much appreciated by those of us who have already played the existing tracks to death. It takes a lot of care and consideration to ensure the tracks are playable in mirrored mode, and it really feels like a whole new game playing on these reversed courses.
If you’ve never heard of Disc Drivin’ before, definitely at least check out the free version for iPhone. It’s the complete game and allows you to play online just like the paid version, just with ads in-between races. If you like the game but hate the ads then the $1.99 paid version is more than worth the upgrade, and there’s even an iPad-native HD version if you want to play on the bigger screen. I still hope that developer Pixelocity can take the Disc Drivin’ formula and run with it in an even more fleshed-out sequel someday, but for a game that’s given me nearly three years of constant enjoyment, the original will always be amongst my all-time favorites on iOS.
