Alto's Odyssey is a Trip Worth Taking

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Alto and his friends conquered the slopes, recovering the lost llamas in Alto’s Adventure. Now they’re hitting sand dunes, bouncing on balloons, grinding on everything from rock walls to vines, and even catching a lift from tornadoes. The sequel to Alto’s Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey, is out on iOS and tvOS, and it’s an exciting sequel to the original game.

The only bad part of the game? There’s only one llama!

What’s New?

Everything. The game was built from the ground up using Metal, Apple’s gaming API for iOS, tvOS, and macOS. The framework optimizes graphics, allowing game developers to interact with the hardware in an easy way, taking full advantage of your phone’s capabilities. The rebuild involving Metal means Alto’s Odyssey is even more gorgeous than the original game. Scenery is alive (I noticed a rock falling off a cliff and tumbling in one background), lighting is atmospheric, with the sun casting long shadows and darkness in the shade of large balloons. Thunder rumbles in the distance as long bolts of lightning light up the sky. A shooting star streaks across the starlit sky of the desert. Alto’s Adventure was a beautiful game. Alto’s Odyssey tops it.

The game developers also set out to make the game more vertical. New elements like tornadoes boost your character into the air. Bouncing off the tops of balloons can give you more height. You can wall ride and propel yourself off nearby rock walls to gain more momentum and height. The end result is a game that retains the same feel of the original—which was vital—while introducing new techniques that fit in the formula. I’ve done a quadruple backflip in the original only once, but I’ve done one about every other run in Alto’s Odyssey. But it doesn’t feel as though they’ve overpowered the player. Instead, it feels like you’re just exploring a new land, with new possibilities.

Introduced in Alto’s Odyssey is the idea of biomes. These are regions of the game with a different atmosphere. In one area, you’re going through canyons and grinding your sandboard on smooth rock walls. In another area, you’re landing in a pool of water and skimming along the top, riding the current for a boost of speed. The next biome will have you outrunning lemurs as you grind along vines that snap under your weight. Finally, there’s the first biome you’re introduced to, a beautiful and lively desert scene with hot air balloons you can bounce off of and grind between. With the biomes introduced in Alto’s Odyssey, you really feel like the characters from the original game have gone on an adventure across the planet.

What’s the Same?

I crashed while taking the top screenshot. But that’s ok. I sat and enjoyed the music and the setting sun a bit. A storm was rolling in, and the birds I disturbed curiously flew around me. This game is full of peaceful moments like this. As this was zen mode, i picked up my sandboard and hit the dunes again.

A lot. Alto’s Odyssey still retains the adventurous, free, and fast paced yet relaxing game you love. Zen mode is still there to bring you a nice, relaxing journey with soothing music and beautiful scenery. Backflips, rock bouncing and breaking, and even escaping a hazard chasing you (lemurs, in this game), are all still here. If you loved Alto’s Adventure, you’ll love Alto’s Odyssey. It’s everything that made the original game amazing, with new changes that were carefully chosen to make sure nothing added felt out of place in the experience. You’ll still collect coins to buy the wingsuit (I recommend doing this first), but now you’ll also find new items and powers to help you explore this new world.

Should I Buy it?

Inspired by real-world locations.

Yes. If you loved Alto’s Adventure, you should buy Alto’s Odyssey right now. If the idea of a fast game you can quickly play while waiting in line or on the train, a game that can be tense and relaxing, a game that’s fun and exciting, and a game that has some of the most beautiful graphics in mobile gaming sounds appealing to you, then you should buy this game. Alto’s Odyssey is the kind of game that gives mobile gaming a good name. It’s the direct counter to junk games like Candy Crush and Clash of Whatever. Buy it once and enjoy every aspect of it forever. Alto’s Odyssey is the kind of game that can save mobile gaming. Even if you’re at home on your couch and you could pick up your controller and start playing some Overwatch, you’ll still feel the urge to pick up Alto’s Odyssey instead. That’s how good this game is.

Alto’s Odyssey is out now for iOS and tvOS. I plan to install it on both. It’s $4.99, and that’ll be the easiest $5 you spend all week.