When I had an Apple Arcade subscription, I played endless games What the gulf? on my phone. It was such a chaotic, happy puzzle game that it really got on my nerves Nathan Grayson robbed me the opportunity to write about it. So I was excited to demonstrate Studio Triband’s next game: a racing game where the “car” has legs. Just as its predecessor is hardly a sports game, What the car? is just a racing game in the absolute broadest sense of the word.
When I spoke to game director Tim Garbos, he kept insisting What the car? is a racing game, but one that breaks all the rules a racing game should have. There are no opponents on either track, there is no visible timer, and there is no penalty for running over bears in a hurry to cross the finish line. On one level, my car had massive legs that jumped higher than was practical or desirable. In another instance, my car had small human-sized legs that made me wonder why I was driving a debil itating car in the first place.
Maybe that was the point. As the studio is based in Denmark, I assumed this reflected the #carfree agenda that was spreading across the country. Garbos told me he rides his bike and, like golf (the focus of his last game), doesn’t understand car culture. He has nothing against people who like to play golf or drive, but he personally has no connection with such lifestyles. So his team designed nearly a hundred unique comedic experiences that attempt to deconstruct our idea of what a car can be, from things like turning your car into a sailboat or having it chop vegetables as a chef. Jumping around on limp legs was pure pleasure and I was curious to see how else Studio Triband would challenge my concept of a car. This is a game for people who pride themselves on not knowing the difference between an All-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. (Forgiveness, jalopnik.)
What the car? is currently exclusive to the Apple Arcade subscription service, which brings a selection of games to your phone for five dollars a month. I asked Garbos why he decided to release the game on mobile first. Did it have an easier time finding an audience on mobile (which, as Apple’s rep specifically reminded me, is a larger ecosystem than PC and console combined)? Garbos told me that he didn’t want to create mobile games loaded with microtransactions and that Apple’s subscription service allowed him to create an experience like this What the car?
Apple Arcade is trying to sign dozens of games modestly successful Subscription service, but it’s trying to get developers to create exclusive experiences for its devices as well. The company teamed up with former AAA developers to create it TMNT Splintered Fate, a roguelike that can be played in co-op mode. I was also charmed by the whimsical art style of Disney SpellStruck, a word game that lets you collect characters by spelling words. Apple Arcade isn’t currently home to any must-have games that would compel you to buy an iPhone, but it’s slowly growing into a decent library that might be worth exploring. All of these titles are now playable as part of 20 games Apple published on duty this week. Unlike some other big publishers in the industry, Apple isn’t promising gamers heaven. It focuses on games that its partners can actually deliver.