Surprising success struck ANKI, the racing game powered by artificial intelligence and as such a sequel follows suit and has been announced at the New York Toy Fair. The next chapter of this game dubbed ANKI Overdrive will hit the sale cycle in September and will sport new cars, a modular track and bridges that ultimately make tracks more thrilling and three-dimensional. Based on the recipe of ANKI Drive this is basically a racing game with mini-robotic cars in the Matchbox or Hot Wheels area but powered by a smartphone. Yours, specifically. The concept borders on novelty and I find it interesting. Armed with your smartphones you can challenge your friends and race against them by steering the car using your device.
The game launched in 2013 and since then players have asked for a modular version that allowed them to build their own tracks they now have it thanks to ANKI Overdrive. And designing a track that can be reassembled by players took the company two years to accomplish, therefore this was no easy task. A solid enough but flexible material was chosen for the tracks that snaps onto other pieces thanks to small magnets at the end of each piece. Priced at $149 the ANKI Overdrive starter kit contains enough pieces to create eight different tracks packed with expansion packs that contain four-way intersections, U-turn and I have to say that whether you’re a geek or just want to spend some time with the guys the Overdrive will make you want to buy one.
ANKI Overdrive with tracks and expansions
The starter kit sets you back at $49 while the expansion packs range between $10 and $30 and this covers the hardware side. On the software part ANKI comes with loads of gimmicks that greatly enhance the experience. Each race is improved with video game aspects and fictional commanders that each have a story, strengths, weaknesses, preferred weapons and all this adds to a richer experience. Although the cars are show-stealers on their own, the tracks however are a thing of beauty: they are designed so you can place them onto any surface and the racing cars will work. On a pillow the tracks become hills for instance. Thanks to ANKI Overdrive hybrids between physical toys and video games might just become popular enough to spread, but for the moment this looks like a solid step forward.