AlpenCross

AlpenCross is a mountain-biking game about finding your own routes across the Alps. You plan trips through 32 challenges in five sections, riding from one checkpoint to the next. Checkpoints can be 500 metres or 10 kilometres apart, and you explore the terrain to choose your way.

Routes and challenges

The game has two modes. Timerush places waypoints 100 metres apart, creating fast, demanding routes. In Orienting, you plan the tour yourself, preferably with the map, to reach the next distant waypoint.

Successful rides earn points, which unlock bikes, equipment, outfits, new sections, specials and tougher challenges. You can also score points with stunts. The ranking progresses from an easy start to challenging mastery.

Riding and equipment

The riding combines skill and tactics, with bike physics, smooth movement and interaction with the terrain. You can slide using the rear brake, including a 180-degree turn, and pump by putting your weight into the pedals. Wind, flowing water, buzzing bees and other sounds of the alpine environment accompany your rides.

There are five bikes: a balanced full-suspension bike, a cross-country hardtail with 29-inch wheels, a fat bike for finding new routes, an enduro bike and a downhill bike. You can combine 12 specials, five bikes and four outfits. You can take only three specials on a tour; options include wider cross-country tires, glasses and protectors, with choices such as whether to carry a map.

Replays and presentation

After a tour, you can watch a replay of your ride from several perspectives. The rider's movement is not precalculated: it is sketched using a physics-based ragdoll, so you do not see the same riding segment twice.

The backgrounds use more than 5,000 photographs from the Alpine region. The game includes over 600 sound recordings and 26 music tracks, along with more than 300 shaders, including optional photoreal or RAW shaders. Its code calculates tire traction, wind gust offsets and lake levels, among other things.