App Review No. 90 Does Not Commute

Strong Points:
Good graphics
Great music
Good sound effects
Funny, strangely intriguing storylines
Powerups are kept even when you lose
Interesting gamelpay
Environment effects/different types of cars keep things interesting

Weak Points:
Checkpoints have to be bought for real money
- This can get rid of some of the addictiveness

Rating: 73%

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
World Wide: 15th April 2015

Controls: press left to go left. Press right to go right.

Does Not Commute is an interesting game. The idea is that, as you progress in the game, your skills will affect how hard the game will become. The core gameplay is pretty simple: drive a car from point A to point B in as quick a time as possible. However, each time you the car along the route, its ghost stays there for the next car. Well, I say ghost - it can still hit you. This means that you will have to create some quite interesting routes in order to survive.

Further flavour is added to the gameplay with different environmental effects (such as rain) and car types (ranging from heavy vans to light and agile motorbikes) making it easier to crash and, so, slow down. And, with that all important timer until your demise ticking down in the corner, every second counts.

And you'll really not want to get a gameover as there are no checkpoints (unless you buy premium). This, unfortunate, addition/reduction lowers the game's play-ability/addictiveness and is quite an annoying way to do it. In fact, I think that if the whole game was published as a paid app, I'd be more tempted to buy it - rather than spending money on just checkpoints. Luckily, you can collect extra seconds as you drive around the, cleverly crafted levels (with a whole batch appearing as you go to the next level). As well as extra time, you can also unlock powerups (such as Turbo or Traction Control) for progressing which can help you develop your own, particular, playstyle. These powerups are also permanently unlocked after the first time (even after a gameover) so it adds a slight sense of achievement.

The graphics, music, sound effects and storyline are all great and give the game an atmosphere of an old murder mystery TV show. The storyline is shown by little snippets of thoughts/backstory that show up every time you start a new car journey and is one of the reasons why I kept playing (and another as to why no checkpoints is so annoying).

Overall, Does Not Commute is a nice little game with an intriguing personality that's main failing is putting gamers off playing further.

Goodbye for now, Harry 

Update: story localisation in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese and Japanese