Following the releases of Pivotol ($1.99) and Slydris 2 ($2.99) last fall, we learned in December that Radiangames had another new game in the pipeline called Speed Demons which was a very clever looking top-down driving game and quite a departure from the typical puzzlers and dual-stick shooters that this developer is known for. While Speed Demons is still on the horizon at some point, Radiangames has yet another new game in the works and this one has a solid release date. It’s called Scorcher and it’s an infinite canyon racer where you’ll guide your blazing fast vehicle through narrow passageways taking out as many sandsharks as you can while avoiding the giant sandworms or crashing into a wall. Check out the trailer.

As you can see there’s certainly a bit of similarity between Scorcher and Speed Demons, but this is definitely meant to be a simpler game. The two do share a bit of tech between them, but what I find interesting (and something Radiangames points out in a blog post on his website that’s due to go up shortly) is that Scorcher originally had 2D visuals. It also had the, uh, unique working title of VelociLine. The 2D visuals looked cool enough but it didn’t feel like the game stood out in any significant way, so Radiangames retooled it using 3D visual techniques he’s learned making Speed Demons. The results look great, and moving forward any future games that feature 2D gameplay will most likely use 3D visuals. Scorcher will be launching on iOS February 14th for $1.99 and should be available for pre-order soon. An Android version is planned for around March or April.