Bike Hills

Bike Hills is a side-on hill-climb game with a small dirt bike riding across a clay-model countryside. The bike has two wheels and a rider joined by soft suspension, so it bounces over bumps, pops wheelies on climbs and lifts off over crests. Hold gas to ride and brake to slow down or reverse; in the air, gas tips you back and brake tips you forward. If the rider's head touches the ground, or you drop into a gap, the run is over.

The campaign has 120 tracks in eight worlds of fifteen. Clover Meadow teaches the basics with gentle hills and fuel cans. Maple Woods adds log ramps and creek gaps, Sunset Canyon tall kickers and chasms, Seaside Dunes soft sand and boost pads, Frosty Pines slippery ice, Mushroom Hollow bouncy pads, and Starlight Ridge floaty low-gravity night rides. Ember Peaks has the steepest climbs and mixes everything. The last track of each world is a long challenge ride. Each track has three stars: reach the finish, beat the par time, and collect all three star tokens, the last of which usually takes real air off a kicker or crest.

Fuel runs down the whole time, and the screen shows how far it is to the next red can. Coins lie along the track and flips pay a bonus, with more for double and triple flips. In the garage you upgrade the engine for top speed, the tyres for grip on climbs, sand and ice, the suspension for softer landings and the fuel tank to ride longer between cans, ten levels each. Coins also buy paints, helmets and trails, some of which need stars.

Some practical advice: keep your speed up on the ramp before a creek gap, and keep the bike level in the air so you land on both wheels. Go easy on the gas on ice. Low gravity makes jumps huge, so watch your landing. The early worlds can be finished on the base bike, but the last Ember Peaks tracks need engine and tyre upgrades, so spend coins there first.

Endless Ride is one long track that keeps getting harder, and the Daily Trial is a new track every day to ride as fast as you can. The game is played in landscape, with the right side of the screen for gas and the left for brake on touch devices, or with keyboard and mouse.

Hold gas to ride and brake to slow down. In the air, gas tips the bike back and brake tips it forward, so you can line up your landing. Every track has three stars: reach the finish, beat the par time and collect the three star tokens.

Fuel runs down the whole time, so reach the next red can before the tank is empty. Coins from the track, flips and big jumps go to the garage, where you upgrade the engine, tyres, suspension and fuel tank, and pick up paints, helmets and trails.