During the off-season of the Altador Cup, what better event to host in the Colosseum but a chariot race? In Chariot Chase, seven Alabriss-led chariots compete in the race of their lives! The races are fast-paced and the competition is brutal, but with the right knowledge, you might find yourself racing for victory!
How to Play
While Chariot Chase is presented as a racing game, it is not really a race at all. The object of the game is to travel as many laps as possible across a figure-eight track. Thus, the key here is survival. At first that may sound easy, but if you collide with another chariot along the way, you will lose a life. Once you lose your four lives, it's game over!
Don't be deceived into thinking you're racing against time, either. Although the elapsed time is recorded on the top center of the screen, you are never going to run out of time. Plus, there's a very little negative impact of taking too much time. If you complete laps quickly, you can get a small bonus, but it's a greater trade-off to take your time and get more laps than to rush and lose lives.
The controls are fairly simple. Just as you'd expect, the left, right, up and down arrow keys help to steer your chariot around the track. Holding down the up key will instantly take your chariot to max speed; conversely, releasing it will cause you to slow to a stop. To maneuver around the curved track, you must hold both the up arrow and a left or right arrow at the same time.
An important note is that only full laps will count towards your score. That means you can't race around one half of the track twice and expect the counter to change after you cross the green line. You must travel the full figure-eight before crossing the line. However, racing in the "wrong" direction can grant you a strategic advantage if you need to avoid your enemies or grab a power-up.
On occasion, you will find power-ups along the way. Power-ups do not stack, meaning that you cannot get a shield power-up pick up a cloud power-up too.
Clocks slow down the other racers for a few seconds
The cloud allows you to fly over the other racers without loss of lives for 10 seconds
Hitting a Pile of Dung will force you to veer off to the side
These suns provide you with a temporary shield for 10 seconds
When a power-up is about to expire, your chariot will start flashing. You then have 5 seconds to ensure you aren't about to run into any chariots! Don't get careless when collecting power-ups!
Instead of the standard three difficulty modes, there are only two available in Chariot Chase: Normal and Hard. The main difference between them is speed. Normal and Hard are both scored the same.
The scoring for the game is determined as follows:
If your elapsed time is less than 10 times your number of laps: Score = (100 x number of laps) + (10 x number of seconds)
If your elapsed time is greater than or equal to 10 times your number of laps: Score = 100 x number of laps
This means that the minimum you can earn per lap is 100 points and the maximum is 190 points.
Strategy
Since Hard Mode and Normal Mode have no influence on the scoring, choosing Normal Mode is an easy choice. If you have limited time on your hands or wish to challenge yourself, Hard Mode is better suited for you.
Before the game begins, you are asked to select one of four Alabriss: Fire, Electric, White, and Faerie. If you have trouble pulling ahead immediately, it's recommended that you choose either the Fire (leftmost starting position) or Faerie Alabriss (rightmost starting position); while they don't control differently or have a direct advantage, their starting positions make it slightly less likely that you'll collide with other chariots at the start of the race.
Now it's time for the race to begin! A 5 second countdown will appear. On the moment you see "GO!", rush to the position shown above, staying as close to the wall as possible. Restart the game until you can accomplish this without losing a life. You will get a hang of this with practice. Trying to outrun the chariots is indeed an alternative, but it carries more risk. For the length of that first stretch, you'll be racing for your life! The good news is that this is probably the most stressful stage in the race, so the game only gets easier from here. The second lap is no more difficult as the 50th lap. However, don't let your guard down for a second. It wouldn't be called Chariot Chase without the chase, now, would it?
Eventually, the rival chariots will catch up to you and sometimes, drift dangerously close to your Alabriss. Luckily, chariot behavior is not random; rather, each chariot travels in a distinct and predictable manner. Chariots paths fail to cross a fair section of the racetrack on each of the modes, which is crucial for survival.
The most effective strategy is to wait in these areas until you can safely pass. Do NOT worry about the elapsed time. You can see these areas in the screenshot below. Get as close to the wall as possible. At the worst, you score 100 points per lap, 190 in the best case. If you try to rush laps, the likelihood of losing lives increases, leading to a shorter game. Work on building up as many laps as possible, preserving your lives by not taking risks. The chariots love to sway and wobble in their paths – it can be far too easy to lose a life.
Tips and Tricks
Slow down when you see clock power-ups! While they can save you, they are a double-edged sword. If you're speeding too fast, running into the power-up unexpectedly can cause you to plow into the chariots ahead of you, costing you a life!
If the other chariots are too close for comfort, pull over and let them pass you. Do this only when you're confident you're out of their path, or you have a power-up. Especially for long games, don't be afraid to do this regularly.
When approaching the intersection, keep your eyes on the chariots preparing to cross your path. If you are unsure if you can cross safely, and there's no one behind you, wait until it's safe to cross.
You can survive with zero lives. If it makes you feel any better, you technically have five lives: four extra lives and your final one (where your life counter is 0).
Each chariot follows a predictable path. If you memorize their behaviors, it becomes far easier to know when and where to avoid them.
Remember, the game is never ending, so there is no way to truly win the race. Luckily there's always the high score list to prove your victory.
The Void Within plot is taking a break! All point gathering activities are on hold for now. Stay tuned to JN, we'll announce when a more firm return date is provided.
Did you know Neopets currently has two mobile apps available? Did you know they both offer item and Neopoint prizes on Neopets.com? Get all the details on our guides:
