Steer Wheels 3 - drive and solve physical puzzles

Games based on the physical models are immensely popular now. In most of them the player shoots the cannons, tries to keep the balanse or drops some items to achieve the required effect.

But here, in Steer Wheels, we have an rare physics-based gameplay mode. The player controls a skateboard, which pushes a yellow ball. To pass the level you need to make the ball touch the yellow block.

The main menu screen has unusual way to select an option. The button, under which the skateboards is currently located, is highlighted. And when the player presses Space, its action is performed. In such a way the main menu screen introduces the basics of the game: how to control the skateboard with the arrow keys (left and right) and how to use the curved slopes and the centrifugal force to move up and down.

If you want to earn points and compete with the players from the whole world, then select Play. You will start the game from the first level and have threee lives. There’s a certain amount of time, during which you’re supposed to complete the level, otherwise, one life will be lost.

The lives indicator and the timer are located in the top-right corner of the screen. Another way to loose a life if to drop the ball so that it falls far below the initial platform. You don’t loose life when you just restart the level by pressing down arrow key, but the timer is not reset.

The skateboard is always on the screen, wherever you move. And if it moves too far from the ball, its position will be shown in the bottom-right window.

The platforms colours have such meaning:
Orange platforms are the teleporters. Green things have increased friction, even stickiness. Blue objects can be moved. Red object are bouncy. The purple objects are triggers. If you touch them, new platforms may appear, and some may vanish.

The combination of all these properties opens a really unlimited field for a level-design. For example, on this level you’re expected to push the blue ball so that it hits the yellow ball. And while the yellow ball is descending along the sticky slope, use the curved slope to descend faster than it, and meet the ball down. Then push it to the right, towards the yellow block, and the level is won!

If you don’t like time-pressing in the games, then choose Level Select mode from the main menu. You’ll be give unlimited amount of time and attempts to pass each level, and you can start from any of the unlocked levels, as well as play the previous versions of Steer Wheels. To my opinion, the third version, while using the same game mechanics, is much more pleasant to play than the previous ones.

The sound at first seems funny and unobtrusive, but if you play for a long time, and it becomes repetitive, press S to mute it. And finally, about how to exit the main menu. To do it, press M, then – X. Play and have fun!



P.S. Tudway, the author of the series, owns a blog, where the implementation of some of the game mechanics are explained and some useful advice to the flash game developers are given.

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Categories: action, driving, physics, puzzle