If you haven’t already been caught up in the frenzy caused by the new iOS game Alto’s Adventure, it’s probably time you should. Alto’s Adventure is a charming little game for iPhones and iPads that also happens to be one of the most insanely addictive things on the planet in recent memory (aside from the devices we’re playing on themselves).
As for the game itself, you play Alto (or one of the other unlockable characters with unique skills) looking to conquer the ski slopes while jumping, flipping, picking up coins and powerups, and attempting to evade the “elders”. Of course, the surface goal is to ski as far as you can and pile up as many points as possible by performing tricks and building combos. But Alto’s Adventure goes beyond that simple goal: the game includes a level system, and each level requires you to complete three objectives in order to move on to the next. As you can expect, higher levels requires ever more complicated and difficult challenges. Every ten levels, you unlock a new playable character, each with different strengths and weaknesses.
As this author has already logged nearly a million meters skied in the game, there are a couple tips and tricks I want to share with you so that you can continue to make progress though the levels of Alto’s Adventure.
Unlock the Wing Suit First
You might have visited the workshop and seen the three items therein: feather and magnet timer upgrades, and the wing suit for a cool 5,000 coins. You might be tempted to purchase the cheaper upgrades first (the most expensive timer upgrade is 5,000, and lower levels are significantly cheaper), but try and collect the coins required for the wing suit first. The Wing Suit upgrade enables even bigger combos, and you’ll need the wing suit later to complete certain goals. Once you have the wing suit, you’ll be able to afford the additional unlocks even quicker.
Stick with Maya
Maya is the first player character that is unlocked at level 11, and a couple goals will specifically require you play her. However, even with characters unlocked at higher levels, I stick with Maya. Although Maya is relatively slow, and slow to build up speed, she can flip on a dime, a skill essential for racking up the trick combos. I can usually fit in three or more backflips before my first town or forest using Maya. Almost any sort of decline or bounce is enough air to complete a flip. Even a bounce off a rock is enough to get those extra points.
Test the limits of her speed to get a handle on how quickly you can get those flips in, and you’ll be triple flipping in no time (speaking of which, good luck with level 21!).
Maya’s high-flying acrobatics also make powering up the wing suit incredibly fast. If you haven’t already noticed, you power the wing suit by completing as many tricks in quick succession as possible. You can keep track of your progress by keeping an eye on your player’s scarf. As you land tricks, your scarf grows in length, but will quickly shrink down to nothing if you spend too much time between tricks. The wing suit will be powered up when the scarf reaches full length (when it’s nearly to the left edge of your screen) and glows white.
Build Up Those Combos
The fastest way to your new high score is by chaining together as many tricks as possible into combos. Be aware: any combo is broken by regular skiing. Try to flip from grind to grind, throw in a wing suit flight, land on another grind or ramp or rock, and keep flipping! Here are a couple tips on how to get big combos.
Wing suit flips
If you have enough built-up speed when you first enable it, you can complete a loop-de-loop in the wing suit right from the get go. Then, if possible, skim past the surface in the suit without touching down to add another trick to your combo (don’t forget, the suit doesn’t make you immune to the perils of rocks, fires, and direct hits like the hover feather will). Try and complete a second loop-de-loop before coming down to a landing at the end of your wing suit’s power.
Wing suit on/off
One trick you can occasionally employ is to use the built-in ability of the wing suit. Once you have enabled the wing suit, you can at any time turn it off with another tap of the wing suit button on the left. Once you have got that first loop-de-loop done, find a grind to land on, jump off, and re-enable the wing suit once again.
Flip during grinds
Another quick way to add tricks to your combo is during bunting line grinds. When you encounter a longer stretch of bunting line, you often find different sections will angle off at a slope from previous sections. This change in descent is enough time for the faster flippers to get an extra backflip in.
Use the Right Player
As previously mentioned, each unlocked player has their own strengths and weaknesses. While Alto is a fairly good all-rounder, he’s not particularly skilled at any one thing. Maya is great at getting flips in quickly, but not the fastest on the ground. Paz isn’t great at the upside-downy, but good luck stopping him when he’s on a roll. Whatever your current challenges are, try and use the strengths of each player to get a leg up on them.
Re-power the wing suit
You’ll find there are plenty of tricks to the wing suit once you have played around with it, but here is one I use often to get extra points. As I mentioned above, the wing suit includes the power to turn off at the touch of the button. Fortunately, when you turn the wing suit off, you don’t lose all of its built up power. This means you can re-enable it after, say, completing a grind. On top of that, you can actually top up on wing suit power by completing additional tricks before time runs out. You have a limited time to do this, as wing suit power depletes whether you’re using it or not, but if you can complete a trick or two in time, you’ll get the wing suit back to full power. This is achieved even faster if you complete a quick combo. Using this trick, I have been able to string together a combo with three separate wing suit flights for a ridiculous amount of points.
So there you have it. Hopefully these tips will come in handy on your trips down the slopes in Alto’s Adventure. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the game on the App Store. Alto’s Adventure is an absolute steal at two dollars for the insane amount of entertainment you’ll be able to squeeze out of this seemingly simple game. You can also check out the dedicated website here.
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