From kayaks to helicopters to horses (flying and otherwise), VirZOOM lets you move around in a variety of ways – but the two most popular remain crawling around in a tank and speeding along on a bicycle. For those who’d like a bit more variety to these rides, this week’s update brings a number of new features to our bicycling game, Le Tour, and a jolt of energy to our new tank game, Thunder Bowl.
In Le Tour, shortcuts offer some pleasant detours and new scenery to enjoy on your countryside ride, in addition to a 20-coin score bonus. They’re sprinkled randomly through each race, and depending on the layout of your track, they may even help you cut a corner. If you’re dead set on making certain gate goals or drafting as long as possible, though, you might choose to stay on the road instead!
Le Tour AI cyclists now also have an expanded range of animations and spoken lines, especially when you happen to bump into them. Not that we recommend you bump into other riders, but hey, drafting can be tricky!
And finally, wheelies on your bicycle are entirely optional, but highly amusing. When you’re pedaling fast enough, look upward to initiate a wheelie. There’s no scoring bonus or other gameplay effects from wheelies, but don’t let that get you down. Sometimes goofing off is its own reward.
This update also includes a speed fix for Le Tour following a bug in our last build. Bikes in Le Tour do show lower top speeds now than they did before (and that’s on purpose), but gate goals have been adjusted to compensate for this. And remember, the speed you see in-game is not the same as as the speed reported on My VirZOOM!
Meanwhile, in Thunder Bowl, speed boosts have been introduced as a third kind of power-up dropped by AI tanks. Ride over one to momentarily enhance mobility, ducking behind cover or beating the competition to the nearest ammo crate. If you’ve been playing VirZOOM Arcade awhile, you might remember that we briefly tested speed boosts in Winterstan, but found them a little too disorienting for a hilly map. Our internal testing suggests they’re a lot more viable with the flatter terrain in Thunder Bowl, but we’re still experimenting. Your feedback is valuable as ever!
This update is live now on Steam and PlayStation. Let us know what you think over at the forums!
