Dream Track Nation from Chillingo and PowPow Games seemingly has it all. 60 stages across three environments, two unique modes of play, realtime multiplayer, and perhaps most impressively, a full-featured custom track creator. The only thing the game seems to be lacking is a rock-solid physics engine. But despite this gameplay hiccup, the game is still easy to recommend.
The core gameplay itself is perhaps best described as a cross between Jelly Car and Line Rider. The abstract stages are all physics-based and fast-paced. Players will frequently travel through loop-de-loops, zip over large gaps, and perform other silly maneuvers to make it to the end of each stage. Some stages are a bit too reliant on blind jumps and other trickery, but since each stage is only about 20-30 seconds long, there is never too much time lost.
My only real Dream Track Nation complaint is that the aforementioned physics come off as a bit flaky and inconsistent. You can go over a jump 10 times, and your vehicle will land in a slightly different space each time. The vehicles are also quite tippy, meaning you will spend quite a bit of time upside down, wheels in the air. I even managed to get my car completely stuck in a stage's geometry a few times.
But these loose physics can contribute to DTN's fun factor just as often as they detract from it. The tippy vehicles means you can pull off double or triple flips during moments of big air. It's a lot of fun when everything comes together, and you put together a smooth run through a stage, hitting all the jumps and performing flips left and right.

Players will have plenty of opportunities to put together those perfect runs, too. DTN's 60 stages are really more like 120, since each can be played in a time trial mode, or a very different-feeling "Star Collection" mode. In a shameless (but welcome!) copy of Sony's recent ethos, DTN also encourages players to "Play, Build, Share." The track creation and sharing is more than just an afterthought – it's very robust.
I lost count of how many objects players can use to build their tracks at over 100. Players can browse user-created tracks by their rating, or their upload date. When DTN launched, the custom maps were mostly large half-pipes and other simplistic creations, but the servers are already loaded up with better custom content, just a couple days later.
Finally, Dream Track Nation also features realtime, over-the-air multiplayer, powered by Game Center. In our tests, finding a game took a while, but the 1v1 matches worked smoothly once matchmaking completed.
Rating | Description | |
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out of 10 | Click here for ratings guide | |
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Connections for Dream Track Nation (iPhone)
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