Action Supercross (Elastomania) is not just a game. This is a real cult. Amazing in its simplicity and accessibility platformer with unique mechanics, simple and clear goal and frighteningly addictive gameplay. Affectionately nicknamed fans of Elma, this game is responsible for dozens, hundreds of hours of life taken from gamers. Why are there taken away - voluntarily surrendered, with a thoughtless smile on his face and enthusiastically glowing eyes. What is so attractive about her? Let's get a look.

Lonely boy on the right sports bike, desert terrain without any signs of human intervention. No sound around but the rumble of the engine. What did our hero forget here? Who is he, why is he here? What is the difference? .. We know only one thing - here, in this forgotten bear corner, someone scattered apples. We need these apples and we will get them to get to the finish line and repeat the procedure. Search, collection, finish. Search, collection, finish ... Isn't this the embodiment of arcade-platform happiness?

As you know, all ingenious is simple, and Elasto Mania is no exception. Everything that happens is presented to us in the form of hand-drawn figures and backgrounds in a 2D perspective with a side view, so that the nameless motorcyclist is always located in the center of the screen, and when moving, the review shifts to the appropriate side. At each level, waiting for him ruddy red apples, hanging right in the air, and a bright daisy. It is easy to notice them, because these objects are the only ones in the game, created in 3D and constantly rotating around their axis, thereby attracting attention. All you have to do is pick up all the apples and get to the daisy by touching it with one of the wheels of a motorcycle or wearing a helmet with the head of a motorcyclist himself. Sounds up banal easy. But one has only to start the movement, as you immediately understand where the game got its name from - it turns out that the bike is elastic! Clinging to something or hitting an obstacle, the springs of the shock absorbers stretch or shrink to completely incredible proportions. In particularly difficult cases, the entire design of the motorcycle under the influence of external forces takes on such comical forms that it is impossible to look at without emotion. Our hero, however, is only at hand - how can one overcome the narrow, twisted corridors created by someone’s insane genius, survive the fall of a skyscraper from a height and cross over sharply rugged cliffs to get a hidden apple? The only thing that can stop a brave man is a header. Here, even a safety helmet does not help - for the slightest touch should be a loss, start the level from the beginning.

No less interesting is the mechanics of our vehicle. If you were hoping to see some kind of realism in Elasto Mania, you'd better forget right away. When you press the acceleration key, the motorcycle slowly lifts up the front wheel, while continuing to work back. Naturally, the balance at the same time quickly shifted back and the poor fellow-driver flies his head down, and once again we have to press the repeat level button. Keeping the balance is not easy, because it requires constant “pushing” of the motorcycle in the right direction - and this is the greatest difficulty of the game. There is no problem except a full turn - just press the spacebar and the rider magically looks the other way.

The first levels relate to the player quite mercifully, but after a dozen passed tests you will either have to perfectly feel the bike, or replay the zones over and over again, waiting for the illumination. The levels themselves are getting bigger and bigger; very soon new floors appear in them, then tangled labyrinths are waiting for you, and on the ground, in the meantime, spiny spinning balls appear, touching the wheel to which is tantamount to losing. The game is increasingly beginning to resemble not a fun arcade, but a cunning puzzle, calculated to starve the most venerable bison of this genre. Toward the end of the game, it remains only to stand up to applaud the authors - not every sadist will come up with such cruel tests ...

For all its complexity, Elma makes an overwhelming desire to play again and again. The unique mechanics instantly made the game popular, and the combination of maddening levels and deliberately bright, even some children's palette of colors created a pacifying atmosphere that does not allow periodic flashes of irritation to throw the keyboard into the monitor and ram the head to the nearest wall. So if you still doubt - play, be sure to play and do not regret anything. In no other game has the apple harvesting process been so exciting.