Drift Loop

Drift Loop is a cozy 3D drift racer on tabletop dioramas. A little clay car slides around miniature circuits set in eight worlds: Meadow Ring with grazing sheep, Harbor Docks, Orchard Lanes, Canyon Run, Frost Pines, the dusky Lantern Town, Blossom Hills and Cloud Garden. On touch screens the car accelerates by itself, so all you do is steer.

Each of the 120 levels has one challenge and three star goals. Time trials ask you to finish the laps fast, drift score levels want a points total, zone levels only count slides inside golden drift zones, races put you against three rival cars, pace ghost levels set a bot lap to beat, and the last level of every world is a one-on-one duel with that world's fastest driver, from Clover in the meadow to Nimbus in the clouds. You need at least one star to clear a level, and worlds open with stars and a win over the previous boss.

Drifting is the heart of it. Steer hard at speed, or tap the handbrake, and the back steps out. Hold the slide to build a chain whose multiplier climbs from x1 to x5, then straighten up for a moment to bank the points. Touching grass, a wall, another car or, in Lantern Town, a cone on the apex breaks the chain and loses what you had not banked. Later worlds add boost pads, soft sand on the outside of corners, ice patches with little grip and rolling hills. Goals are set by a bot driving the same physics, so every target can be reached.

A few tips: bank your chain on short straights rather than risking it through one more corner. In zone levels, link the golden corners with one long slide when you can. Your best run on each track drives with you as a ghost, so watch where it pulls away. If corners feel slippery, the tyre upgrade adds grip; the drift kit gives longer slides and more points.

Coins from races buy six cars, from the forgiving Pip hatchback and the bouncy Tofu van to the Loop GT, plus engine, tyre and drift kit upgrades, ten paints and six patterns. The Daily Drift is a new track every day where you score as much as you can in three laps for a coin reward.

Races last a few laps, so the game fits short breaks as well as longer runs. It plays on phones, tablets and computers in portrait or landscape, with touch, mouse or keyboard.

Every level has three star goals. Some levels ask for drift points, some put you against rival cars, and some ask you to beat a pace ghost. Your best run on each track drives with you as a ghost, so you are always racing your own record.

Coins from races buy six cars, engine, tyre and drift-kit upgrades, paints and patterns. A new Daily Drift track appears every day.