Stunt Car Challenge for Android

Stunt Car Challenge is a free Android game that lets you take the wheel of a muscle car and try to win coins while performing death-defying stunts. The more coins you win, the more you can do to your car. More power. More durability. And more action. We tried Hyperkani's Stunt Car Challenge in Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The first thing you're prompted to do when pressing Play is select your Air Control Method, which lets you control your car's angle in midair simply by tilting your device. The choice is either Sensor Controls Air Flips (Recommended) or Touch Control Air Flips. Both work well, so it may come down to a matter of preference. We went with the maker's recommendation, though you can change your choice in Options. As with most Android games, you can turn the background music and sound effects off in Stunt Car Challenge's Options, too. The free game's desert scenario involves stomping the gas pedal to make enough speed to clip as many midair coins as you can and still clear the next cliff without crashing and burning. You earn points for Achievements like doing multiple flips -- successfully. You get no points when you crash and burn, though sliding in on your roof is OK. Earning coins lets you beef up your ride, not to mention your chances for survival.

The game's early levels are less difficult and require less tilt to make some coin and still make the cliff. In playing Stunt Car Challenge, we quickly learned the value of gently backing up the car to gain more takeoff speed. Emphasis on "gently" -- too far and you'll run into a rock wall, your wheels will fall off, and your car will burst into flames. That's generally considered failure. Never mind; half the fun (OK, a tenth) is learning what constitutes failure in a new game. The point is to learn and succeed, and we didn't do too badly right off the mark. Before too long we'd unlocked three more levels. Like other good action games, Stunt Car Challenge is simple to play yet difficult to master.