Altadorian Games - A Tribute

If you walk into the games room and choose "Altador" from the list of words. You'll find four very different games to choose from. The first is Chariot Chase, a racing game about survival and control. Up next is Crisis Courier, an auto-scrolling game focused on strategy and timing. The third, Mop 'n' Bop, is a game where you need to be patient as well as quick-thinking. And finally, my personal favorite, Ready to Roll, a game about perspective and precision where being prudent is rewarded. These games all bring something unique to the table, but one thing they all have in common is the nearly complete lack of randomness, instead being fair, consistent, and judging players based on skill instead of luck. Even the games of this world are focused on being an exemplary player and an exemplary person.

I want to take a closer look at each game individually. I believe they're all worth exploring and playing if for no other reason than how honestly and simply fun they are. If you have discounted one or more of these games because they just don't seem fun, let me try to convince you otherwise.

- Chariot Chase -

Chariot Chase is a racing game, but the focus of this particular racing game isn't so much speed and being the first to finish. Rather, it's a game where you want to get the most laps possible without being hit by or hitting the other racers. Your focus is on control, keeping your chariot away from the others and running laps around them without being sloppy and accidentally crashing into your opponents. Of course, as a racing game, if you complete your laps quickly enough, you'll get a bonus for the time you managed to stay alive. You are also given pick-ups during the game to help or hinder you: There's a cloud that will give your alabriss the ability to soar above your opponents, a sun that makes your chariot temporarily invulnerable, a clock to slow down your opponents, allowing you to speed past them, and finally, a pile of dung, which causes your chariot to spin out of control and fly in a straight line until it skids to a halt or crashes into a wall. Just a tip from a seasoned player: try to avoid the dung.

- Crisis Courier -

In Crisis Courier, you control a yooyu flying through the air, collecting money and battling a hoard of minitheuses. You must change your color from fire to snow and back again to deal with the differently colored obstacles and pickups. And you had better be fast, because the level won't stop moving and if you're not fast, you might find yourself in a tough spot. Constant observation and careful planning will help you learn how to get the better of your challenges, though, and soon you'll be flying through the stages with no trouble, swiftly collecting your treasure and dispatching any threats without blinking. And if two colors weren't enough, you're able to pick up two fruits to briefly change your yooyu into two other variants. The Winged fruit will give you the faerie yooyu, who is weak to all enemies, but gets 20 points for each bag of gold instead of 5. And the fig will transform your yooyu into a mutant yooyu, allowing it to plow through red and blue minitheuses without changing colors. Using these two bonus yooyus to your advantage will allow you to score higher, live longer, and keep flying through the skies.

- Mop 'n' Bop -

Mop 'n' Bop is the frustrating tale of the yurble janitor in the Hall of Heroes. Your job is to keep the floors nice and clean, and it's a job you take pride in, but some pesky petpets are making their way in and tracking in mud and dirt behind them. You have to constantly mop up after them and even use your trusty mop to clean the petpets themselves so they don't keep leaving tracks on your floor. After each of the first four laps around the hall, you can upgrade your mop for more speed or a wider area of effect or more cleaning power. It'll always be a tradeoff though, so find a combination that works for you and stick with it to the end. As you progress, you'll encounter faster petpets with more dirt to clean, until eventually you're overrun and erupt into a frenzied rage! ... Or, you get a game over... one of those two. Anyway, throughout your play, you'll pick up water that you can use for extra emergency petpet cleaning, and with each petpet you clean, you have a chance of getting one of three pickups, either giving you a stronger mop, faster movement and charge speed, or just a few extra points. You need to keep calm and quickly react to changing environments to keep going in this unique game.

- Ready to Roll -

You control the stage in Ready to Roll. You turn and tilt the environment, and the yooyu is guided by gravity through 10 increasingly challenging levels filled with narrow gaps, spinning spike obstacles, and more Altadorian sun goodness than even Siyana could need. Your score is based on completing levels and collecting those suns. You get a set bonus for each level you beat, but the more suns you collect, the more they're worth. There's no time limit in this topsy-turvy puzzle game, and you would do well to use that to your advantage and go slowly. This game is all about angles and lining up precise movement. The best thing about this game, is that you're given everything up front immediately. You see the whole stage, including the goal, right when you start, and there's nothing that makes you rush or just run forward head-first. Taking time to plan and think through each of your moves is just as important as the aerial acrobatics your yooyu will be performing during this game.

So there you have it. These games cover a broad spectrum of styles, focusing on quick thinking, fast reflexes, patience, planning, strategy, and, above all, practice. Getting a high score in any of these games is just a matter of putting in effort and learning how to do better each time. Even if you're not looking to score big, and just want to pass some time, these should be high on your list of ways to do so. These games truly reflect the high values and rich culture of the world they come from.