Drift through the most beautiful tracks in super-powerful sports cars in Top Cars Drift Racing, and Data Wing, although located in the racing section, offers a completely different entertainment with speeds on the iPhone or Android touch screen. The game was created by a veteran of the computer games market Dan Vogt, who worked on the project alone and put a piece of his soul into it, no matter how pathetic it may sound. Such “handmade” games are etched in memory for a long time and captivate with simply magical gameplay.
In our review of the stylish 2D racing Data Wing, we will tell you more about this game on iOS and Android. A small spoiler – the races are completely free, they do not contain ads and in-app purchases. Data Wing races do not amaze the imagination with screenshots, and at first they generally make a rather pale impression of a graphically modest casual game. At the start, you will find a flat world of racers who escaped from the era of “Asteroids”. Minimalist “retro” graphics, a top view of the racing tracks and conditional abstraction in the form of a background … until local artificial intelligence interferes with the gameplay, nothing in Data Wing portends a masterpiece.
Story and gameplay
In Data Wing, you’re not just an airplane or a cluster of contrast-colored pixels on a screen, but part of a data-gathering squadron about a system that seems to have been designed by a designer who is into retro gaming and racing. Your task is to get from point A to point B, fighting with inertia and gravity, and give the tiny triangular plane an extra boost by scraping it along the edges of the track.
Gradually, the plot of the race unfolds before the player. Oddly enough, it is in such a simple toy at first glance and, moreover, is part of the pleasure of Data Wings. Artificial intelligence seems to be hatching insidious plans for humans, although it treats the “user” with respect and even with awe. It smacks of manipulation and local uprising of machines.
hacker attack
As you progress through the local storyline, the player is faced with a variety of events. Encounters with friendly viruses that try to seduce a brave data collector, as well as insights into the subconscious of a great and terrible user. Data Wing looks like a very eclectic product – a developed plot, ending with a rather emotional ending, and minimalistic racing. Usually this cocktail doesn’t work, but Dan Vogt’s game keeps the player at the screen in an amazing way.
Until you complete all the missions, there is no way to break away from it or forget about its existence by switching to some lightweight time-killer Spin Addict or a wild shooter Danmaku Unlimited 3. Data Wing tenaciously holds the gamer, absorbing all his thoughts. Perhaps this is how the uprising of machines will pass unnoticed. In addition, the developer has spent 15 years on computer games, so he knows very well how to make high-quality and captivating gameplay for the player.
Passing Data Wing to the end is not so easy, although the game does not take advantage of cheating developers, corny lifting up the difficulty level higher. Instead, its creator skillfully shakes up the gameplay so that the player does not get used to it and does not start to get bored.
Game modes
In most cases, you just need to fly the track for a strictly limited time limit. On some tracks there are additional gates that give bonus time. Sometimes you will have to compete with zombified rivals that emerge from the depths of local design.
Some levels, however, are more like adventure games with puzzles and riddles. They are especially carefully calibrated from the point of view of game design – the player has to prudently use acceleration mats and skilfully scratch the sides of the track in order to accelerate the plane to a speed that allows it to slip through the exit to the top.
Verdict
Stylish racing Data Wing perfectly demonstrates how a little imagination and reverent attitude of the developer to the gameplay can turn a relatively small and modest game in terms of graphic delights into a real masterpiece. We might be getting our hands on another smartphone endless runner, but thanks to Dan Vogt, we’re able to immerse ourselves in a truly captivating gaming universe that mixes solid story, intense racing, and clever puzzles. To the credit of the creator, the game is completely free – it has no ads and in-app purchases. Let’s put Data Wing in the “Download this now” category.
All for the User
Dan Vogt took a non-standard approach to the development of the game, because he could create a simple casual arcade game, add loot boxes and other ways to monetize. Instead, he made Data Wing completely free and ad-free.
It feels like a lot of time and effort has been invested in the game, while not demanding anything in return. Data Wing is not only a bright arcade race that can keep you busy for a long time, but also a good story that you will definitely want to listen to the end.
The setting gives a special feature – the action takes place within the program. As the game progresses, we rush through the system, its files, programs, code. This world was not chosen by chance: the game designer admires technology and human interaction with them. This idea and attempt to explain how technology works is at the heart of the game.
The goal of the game is not to become the first in the championship, but to gain access to files by helping the Mother and Outcast programs. These same characters add a plot and humor in the spirit of Glados from Portal to the game. On the tracks there are also files with fragments of records of the owner of the computer, which reveal the context of the story.
Work on how to introduce the player (into the story); gradually expand his understanding of the world and rules; build his relationships with other characters… all this was quite a challenge, while the player can not interact, but only drive.
