Ionic Surge

If you’ve been lacking an against-the-clock racing game, Ionic Surge is here to delight and occasionally enrage you. The latter is part of the fun as this is a racing game in which you will be piloting a hovercraft on a randomly generated track that never actually ends.

Right off the bat, Ionic Surge will first-off test your patience until you get a handle on the controls. Key mapping is in no way complex but the challenge comes from controlling the craft on all three axes on a procedurally generated track that twists, bends and flips all while trying to avoid plenty of incoming obstacles.

Apart from randomly placing obstacles for you to smash into, the game also finds it fun to create large gaps in the track over which you have to jump. If that sounds easy, then you should know that the track might be flipped upside down on the next part or at a 90 degree angle, making the landings pretty difficult to manage.

Visually, Ionic Surge looks really good and its minimalistic design makes it very easy for you to figure out what’s heading your way but having the time to react, well, that’s something else. You can slow down the craft, but if the timer runs out, it’s game over, so that’s not really an option.

There is no end game feat or level to Ionic Surge, you race for as long as you still have time on your side. Apart from the initial countdown, throughout the track you can collect powerups that add extra time so you can keep going.

Along with those, there are also health ones that allow you to repair the hovercraft (oh yes, you take damage when you hit an obstacle, you didn't think running out of time and flying off the track were your only worries, did you?).

On a closing note, Ionic Surge is by all means an arcade game that’s worth your time if you have the patience to master the controls. Its procedurally generated track and obstacle placement makes it a challenge to consider.