The wait is over!
Mad Skills Motocross 2 is available for download today. The sequel to the wildly successful Mad Skills Motocross iOS game is free to play and takes the original game, which was installed nearly five million times, to a whole new level.
Yes, you read correctly, Mad Skills 2 is a free app and all added tracks will be free though other buyable upgrades do exist. Perhaps the biggest change, however, is the sequel offers seven speeds of bikes whereas the original offered one bike speed. Additional bikes are expected to be added later.
Additionally, MSM2 integrates a leaderboard system so you can play against Facebook friends, people you follow on Twitter and others in your network of friends or associates. Tobias Andersson, who developed the game, said one of the biggest problems with the first version was the lack of a leaderboard system and making it difficult to play against friends.
"Core players would have to text their times to friends and that's how the back and forth battles would take place. Very inefficient," Andersson said. "In MSM2, we've built a bunch of ways for people to compete against other real-life players from within the game."
Many top pro riders play Mad Skills Motocross and most will likely connect to the game using Twitter. Bryan Stealey, president of Filter Publications which publishes Racer X Illustrated and Racer X Online and the company behind Mad Skills, said he's most excited about the integration of Twitter.
"Anybody who follows a pro racer on Twitter who uses the game app can line up their best times and race against them," Stealey said. "I expect a lot of Tweets from people who have beaten Carey Hart or Adam Cianciarulo on a track."
MSM2 replaces the occasional limited-round tournaments MSM1 featured with what's called "Jam Mode" - this happens weekly with no breaks. Unlike the one-track tournaments in MSM1, Jam Mode offers multiple tracks. Future upgrades to MSM2 include a "track editor" to allow users to edit their own tracks.
Andersson said he tried to create a true arcade game by incorporating elements of reality but not focusing too much on reality or non-reality to appeal to actual riders and casual players who've never ridden a dirt bike before. Super-realistic games work better for consoles and hard-core gamers, and those that are too arcade-like lose their appeal with true motocross racers.
"We've always tried to make games that purists and casual players would like and I think that's why the Mad Skills franchise has been so successful," he said.
Andersson said fans can expect even more in the coming months as the launch version only scratches the surface of their plans for Mad Skills Motocross 2. Andersson said their hope is to make MSM2 relevant for years by adding more features and more platforms.
"The thing that will really make this game amazing is connecting with friends," he said. "Because it's free to download, we hope people will get their friends playing too, as it'll really enhance the experience for all of them."
Download your free Mad Skills Motocross 2 app today. Click here to download it now.
