Doritos Crash Course is a Platforming advergame, released for Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360. The first game was released on December 8, 2010, as a finalist of a competition sponsored by none other than Doritos. The unexpected sequel was released on May 8, 2013.
If you've watched Takeshi's Castle or Wipeout, you'll find the premise familiar here—your goal is to race through a gauntlet filled with various obstacles, like conveyor belts and giant hammers, as quickly as possible. Finishing earns you medals based on your time and can be a determiner in what levels are subsequently unlocked, traveling the world in locations such as Japan and the Amazon. There's not much more to them, but both games are free, so why not check them out yourself?
Doritos Crash Course provides examples of:
- Advertisement Game: It's an advertisement for Doritos chips.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: In Crash Course 2 you can pay real money to unlock levels and get power-ups and rewinds. However, apart from a few cosmetic effects, you can earn everything by just playing the game as well.
- Death Course: Well, not exactly "death" as it is "knock silly", but it's a linear gauntlet filled to the brim with various things that will hinder you.
- Denser and Wackier: While the first Crash Course at least kept the settings' appearances to something you might see on American Gladiators, Crash Course 2 goes all-out with the looks, having you race through locales like the Amazon, Egypt, and Antarctica, with the courses and backgrounds themed appropriately.
- Downloadable Content: Crash Course has the City Lights pack, which adds Las Vegas and London levels, along with an easier version of the Japan levels.
- Fake Longevity: Present in Crash Course 2. In the original, levels just unlocked as you progress, but in the sequel, completing levels just earns you stars instead, which you use to unlock levels. Even then, that only gets you the main path—if you want to unlock the side paths, you have to shell out more stars. The costs aren't too bad to start, but they become rather prohibitive once you reach the third set, so unless you've finished first a lot be prepared to go back to grab some in-level stars or finish optional objectives.
- Microtransactions: Crash Course 2 has coins that you can purchase with real money. You can subsequently use those coins to unlock levels or purchase power-ups.
- No Fair Cheating: If you wipe out on a particular section too many times, both games will give you the option to skip ahead. However, it will also prevent you from earning medals and stars.
- Product Placement: That Doritos logo on the title. However, that's the only place you see the logo, so you'd be excused if you came in the middle and though this was wholly independently developed.
