Eggcelerate to the North Pole is the latest in the jolly physics-based time trial driving game. It’s my second taste of the series and this version feels easier than the original but also better balanced. Balance is the name of the game here too. You’ll be driving around icy obstacle courses with an egg in a basket on the roof of your car. If it drops and smashes, you lose and you’ll need to try again.
I strongly recommend a controller for Eggcelerate To The North Pole because the keyboard movements are so binary and janky, your egg will go flying very easily. Instead, you’ll be encouraged to take it slow and steady around the 30 courses in the game. Movement on the controller is solid and largely predictable with a small hint of mobile floatiness about it. Each course must be completed in one go and is timed, with achievements being unlocked for beating the dev time on each course. You don’t have to use speed though and that’s one of the things I love about the game. I found myself simply getting over the line at first, learning the track layout and the breaking point of adhesion for both my car and egg. Then I’d hit retry and speed up my runs over time. Online leaderboards for each run give you a ranking position although I couldn’t see how to access this outside of the in-race UI showing me my placement. It certainly spurred me on to aim for higher rankings and get close to those dev times but you can take it slow and steady if you want.
The courses themselves are a mixture of bends, hairpins, bumps, jumps, springs and icy patches with zero grip. There are a few jumps which pose little challenge as long as you keep a steady throttle but the tricky magnets return. These pull or push your car away and are often placed on hairpins to catch the slower drivers out. Thankfully, their placements are nowhere near as taxing as the original Eggcelerate and it is a plus for me. Does it make the game easier? yes. Does it make it more enjoyable? Also yes. It’s also worth noting that hidden around the 30 courses are 100 hidden snowmen to crash into. There are also plenty of winter mini-games like curling and hockey to drive around. It feels like some of these should be playable with a friend though rather than just punting a puck about and scoring an empty point. I did appreciate all the hidden things to find though and it certainly makes a collectathon a secondary task in the game.
My main gripe is that the 30 stages are quite similar and often quite basic. Some mechanics are only used a couple of times, like narrow bridges, and I feel like for the £10 price point, another 20 stages of different layouts should have been included or the mini-games been available to play as bonuses. What’s here is lovely, I just wanted more of it. I’d recommend if you are new to the series, grab the bundle as it is much cheaper and if you enjoy one Eggcelerate game, you’ll enjoy them all. I didn’t get much time to enjoy some festive cheer this year but this game was the one I played the most with its icy themes. Its good-hearted silly fun is approachable and if you enjoy time trial antics, you’ll sink a few hours into shaving seconds off your global times.
Review copy provided by the developer. Eggcelerate To The North Pole is out now.
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