Have you ever wanted to ride a light cycle from TRON, but you didn’t like the futuristic style and concept? Well, Faerie Cloud Racers is the game for you. Featuring faeries from all over Neopia with their own element based ships you are able to choose between Fire, Snow, Earth, Water, Tooth, Dark, Space or Light. The point of this game is exactly like the Light Cycle race in TRON, more precisely, you have to trap your opponent into crashing into your smoke, their smoke, the walls or other obstacles. While I can’t say the game is easy, nor can I say it is hard. It will definitely take some practice but after a few go’s you should be playing like a champ.

Like I said earlier, the point of the game is to simply make your opponent crash. To do this you either have them crash into your cloud or they crash into their own. There are also other obstacles to avoid like trees, bushes and houses. Upon loading the game, you have the option to choose either one or two players. With the one player option you play against the computer. With two player option it is you against a friend, where player one uses the WASD keys and player two uses the arrow keys. You are not able to submit your score in two player mode.

As you start the game you get to choose which faerie you are for the remainder of your game. You can choose between Fire, Snow, Earth, Water, Tooth, Dark, Space and Light. There are no advantages given to different faeries, it’s all personal preference. If you started off with Ember (Fire Faerie) you will start off at the first level racing against Taelia (Snow Faerie) and you will go in order of how they show up on your screen ( Fire, Snow, Earth, Water, Tooth, Dark, Space then Light – depending on who you choose). Essentially, whichever character you choose, you will not race against them so you end up skipping that faerie in the lineup. For those of you wondering where Fyora is at, you’ll meet her at the last level. There are 7 levels before Fyora all of which get harder and harder as you succeed. Around level 5 you will feel a huge difference in speed compared to when you first started the game.

Things to Avoid:

·         Your Cloud Trail

·         Your opponents Cloud Trail

·         Trees

·         Bushes

·         Houses

To get a top score you have to be fast AND good so let’s go over some techniques. There are many ways to win: trap your opponents exit with your clouds, cut them off in a turn, trap them in a box, etc. It depends on your play style.

Trapping your opponent with your clouds means essentially not letting them go a certain way and force them to either run into their own cloud or an obstacle. It’s the quickest way to win because they end up throwing themselves out of the race instead of making you chase them around hoping you can make them hit your cloud trail.

Cutting them off in a turn is essentially the last resort, the game is bias towards second player and if it’s not timed right you will lose a life regardless of who hit who. It does work though quite well if you are a few clouds in front of them. If you are going up and then cut them off with a quick turn to the right and quickly go back down, they have nowhere to turn and you win! Use with caution.

The last easiest way that won’t get you much points is boxing them in. Essentially you choose the top half or bottom half and create a rectangle around it and then just go mess around in the other half until your opponent runs out of space and hits something. It takes time but it does work. All you have to do is make sure you do not hit your cloud trail or obstacles while you wait!

To pass each level you have to defeat the opponent 3 times. You also only have 3 lives, so be careful.

When playing in a level you can type “faerie” and all the obstacles in the game will disappear. With only one cheat and only one chance to use it for the whole game, its best to save it for Fyora at level 8. Her level has the fastest ships and has the most obstacles. So, only having to deal with the speed of the level will really help you out.

There are a few factors to your points at the end of the game. How fast you beat your opponents and how far you get up the ladder to Fyora. Scoring is as follows:

Levels 1-4:
Level Points – Time Taken = Round Score
Levels 5-8:
Level Points – 3(Time Taken) = Round Score

You start with 50 points and 25 points is added each new level you get to. IE: Level 2 is worth 75 points and level 7 is worth 225 points.

The game is overall a simple game to play. It does get nerve-wracking and you may throw your mouse a few times while you get used to it, but it is enjoyable. It’s a quick game as well so if you are playing for Neopoints, this game will surely help you bring in the cash.

One last thing before I let you go, there is an Easter Egg in this game as well. At the bottom of the screen when you start a level you may spot a note with the words “Weepit was here” that will quickly float away as the level begins. Weepit helped develop the game and decided to leave a little surprise for everyone! So, remember to stay mindful of your surroundings, practice your trapping techniques and keep an eye out for the Easter Egg! Good luck!