Anki Overdrive: Quick – Furious Edition is unspoiled revhead joy
Anki Overdrive brings ‘The Rapid and the Furious’ to your floor
If there’s anything the “Quick & Furious” franchise instructed us, it’s that stealing cars is a fine way to make a living.
But if you’re not up for infiltrating criminal gangs and boosting BMWs, then robotics company Anki has the next best thing with its Anki Overdrive: Swift & Furious Edition (and as a bonus, it’ll fit on your living room floor).
Slot car racing isn’t fresh. In fact, Anki overdrive itself isn’t all that fresh either — the app-driven racing game very first launched in two thousand thirteen at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. It got a refresh in 2015, with the original roll out mat getting updated to a entirely modular set that you can configure into your own racetrack.
The fresh Anki Overdrive: Rapid & Furious Edition does exactly what it says on the tin. The modular racetrack is back, as well as the clever line-driving robot cars. But while the tech is fairly similar under the rubber hood, the figure has a entire fresh fit out: fresh cars, a fresh app and cool in-game features that call back to “The Fate of the Furious.”
Under the rubber hood
Overdrive is a slot car game for the iPhone generation. Rather than following set tracks, the robotic cars use infrared to go after lines printed underneath the surface of the race mat. The cars go after the lines to map the track before the race, and then go after the same lines during race mode to stay in their lane.
The fresh Anki Overdrive app lets you rail as characters from the Quick and the Furious franchise.
Players use the iPhone or Android app to control acceleration and “steer” their car, however thanks to the infrared tech, this is more about switching lanes rather than steering around the course.
Winning races (either against other players or in-game AI) earns you in-game currency, which can be used to unlock special accessories, weapons and playable characters.
It’s a lot of joy, and the basics are plain enough to master even for the nongamers in your squad (believe it or not, we have some of those in the CNET offices). But for fans of the Quick franchise, there are a bunch of fresh features in this game that will get you revved up.
A fresh paint job
The Ice Charger and the MXT on the track.
While the previous version of Anki Overdrive was managed via the Android or iOS app, the fresh app has had a furious upgrade, meaning you can drive as Dom, Letty, Hobbs or Tej. Beyond the character art you see on screen, you’ll also get lines from the movie through your phone as you play, so get ready for some A-Grade dialogue.
Each of the cars is built same under the fetish mask — the same infrared camera and line-following robot — but the fresh Prompt & Furious cars have also had a fresh gobble of paint. You can drive Dom’s Ice Charger and Hobbs’ MXT, and unlock special weapons specific to the film.
And because car-hacking is the fresh car-jacking, there’s a dedicated panel on the fresh Anki track that lets you “hack” your competitors’ cars when you drive over it. That said, with the way we were crashing into each other on the CNET office floor, we didn’t indeed need help to make things more hectic.
Features
- Starter set includes ten modular, magnetic track chunks
- Includes two “Quick & Furious” cars
- Expandable up to sixty four track lumps (extra chunks $9.99, £9.99 and four cars
Anki Overdrive: Rapid & Furious Edition is available for preorder now in the US, UK and Australia for $170, £170 and AU$300 respectively. Extra cars are available for $49.99 (£49.99, AU$89.99), Supertrucks that unlock fresh abilities are available for $59.99 (£59.99, AU$99.99) and extra track chunks are $9.99 (£9.99, AU$37.99).
The set goes on sale internationally on September 23, and in Australia on September 29.
Batteries Not Included: The CNET team reminds us why tech is cool.
CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET’s newsstand edition.
About The Author
Claire Reilly is CNET’s senior editor based in Sydney, Australia. When she’s not violating stories, she’s a part-time Simpsons guru, hair metal enthusiast and blue cheese aficionado. Read More
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Anki Overdrive: Rapid – Furious Edition is unspoiled revhead joy
Anki Overdrive brings ‘The Quick and the Furious’ to your floor
The app-driven racing game now lets you take the wheel in the massive rev-head film franchise.
by Claire Reilly
If there’s anything the “Rapid & Furious” franchise trained us, it’s that stealing cars is a fine way to make a living.
But if you’re not up for infiltrating criminal gangs and boosting BMWs, then robotics company Anki has the next best thing with its Anki Overdrive: Rapid & Furious Edition (and as a bonus, it’ll fit on your living room floor).
Slot car racing isn’t fresh. In fact, Anki overdrive itself isn’t all that fresh either — the app-driven racing game very first launched in two thousand thirteen at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. It got a refresh in 2015, with the original roll out mat getting updated to a entirely modular set that you can configure into your own racetrack.
The fresh Anki Overdrive: Quick & Furious Edition does exactly what it says on the tin. The modular racetrack is back, as well as the clever line-driving robot cars. But while the tech is fairly similar under the bondage mask, the figure has a entire fresh fit out: fresh cars, a fresh app and cool in-game features that call back to “The Fate of the Furious.”
Under the rubber hood
Overdrive is a slot car game for the iPhone generation. Rather than following set tracks, the robotic cars use infrared to go after lines printed underneath the surface of the race mat. The cars go after the lines to map the track before the race, and then go after the same lines during race mode to stay in their lane.
The fresh Anki Overdrive app lets you rail as characters from the Rapid and the Furious franchise.
Players use the iPhone or Android app to control acceleration and “steer” their car, tho’ thanks to the infrared tech, this is more about switching lanes rather than steering around the course.
Winning races (either against other players or in-game AI) earns you in-game currency, which can be used to unlock special accessories, weapons and playable characters.
It’s a lot of joy, and the basics are plain enough to master even for the nongamers in your squad (believe it or not, we have some of those in the CNET offices). But for fans of the Quick franchise, there are a bunch of fresh features in this game that will get you revved up.
A fresh paint job
The Ice Charger and the MXT on the track.
While the previous version of Anki Overdrive was managed via the Android or iOS app, the fresh app has had a furious upgrade, meaning you can drive as Dom, Letty, Hobbs or Tej. Beyond the character art you see on screen, you’ll also get lines from the movie through your phone as you play, so get ready for some A-Grade dialogue.
Each of the cars is built same under the fetish mask — the same infrared camera and line-following robot — but the fresh Quick & Furious cars have also had a fresh gobble of paint. You can drive Dom’s Ice Charger and Hobbs’ MXT, and unlock special weapons specific to the film.
And because car-hacking is the fresh car-jacking, there’s a dedicated panel on the fresh Anki track that lets you “hack” your competitors’ cars when you drive over it. That said, with the way we were crashing into each other on the CNET office floor, we didn’t truly need help to make things more hectic.
Features
- Starter set includes ten modular, magnetic track lumps
- Includes two “Rapid & Furious” cars
- Expandable up to sixty four track lumps (extra chunks $9.99, £9.99 and four cars
Anki Overdrive: Rapid & Furious Edition is available for preorder now in the US, UK and Australia for $170, £170 and AU$300 respectively. Extra cars are available for $49.99 (£49.99, AU$89.99), Supertrucks that unlock fresh abilities are available for $59.99 (£59.99, AU$99.99) and extra track chunks are $9.99 (£9.99, AU$37.99).
The set goes on sale internationally on September 23, and in Australia on September 29.
Batteries Not Included: The CNET team reminds us why tech is cool.
CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET’s newsstand edition.