原作者：Matt Suckley 译者：Willow Wu

欢迎回到In-App Purchase Inspector，在这里我们会以消费者的视角，定期测评一些F2P游戏。

每期文章，我们都会考虑游戏中IAP的诱因、压力、它们的感知价值、IAP带来的扩展内容还有整个游戏体验的评估。

最终目的就是看看这游戏究竟值不值得我们砸钱，不花钱的游戏体验是否也能让玩家感到满足。

这次我们来看看Top Drives，这是一款赛车卡牌收集游戏，开发团队是来自英国伦敦的Hutch。

Top Drives （from pocketgamer.biz）

风驰电掣

CSR Racing系列的成功足以证明赛车类手游玩的不一定都是驾驶技术。

不管你用的是什么样的游戏控制方案，赛车手游通常都无法达到《极限竞速》那样的效果。CSR Racing抛弃了拟真驾驶的体验，只需要简单地把握换挡时机，就像节奏类游戏一样。 NaturalMotion让玩家们沉浸于买车、升级车的体验，这就是游戏中用来吸引玩家的metagame部分。

Hutch想要学这个方法，把适配于移动设备的集卡游戏配上赛车主题。这游戏在发行之际就得到了热烈的反响，第一周就收获了一百万的下载量。

在Top Drives中，每张卡片都代表着一辆车，卡片上标注着各种属性值——最快速度、从0到60MPH需要多少秒、抓地力、驱动类型、轮胎种类，玩家需要做的就是挑选出适合参加比赛的赛车。

关键的地方就在于预估对手的赛车是什么样的，还要考虑到自己的车适不适合这个赛道。选完了车，你就等着观看比赛就行了。

卡片车库

Top Drives的游戏机制跟CSR Racing不一样，但是你可能会觉得这游戏挺新奇的。核心循环机制就是通过比赛提升你的赛车属性，你的对手也会变得越来越强，你要确保在比赛中能够打败他。

游戏中有两种货币：现金和金币。现金主要是用来升级卡片，但是也可以攒起来购买卡片礼包。金币也可以用来购买卡片礼包，尤其是那些比较高级的，只能用金币买。

虽说金币是更为稀有的资源，但是金币和现金都可以用真钱购买。现金从0.99美元买4500到99.99美元买800000，而金子是以礼包的形式出售的，从0.99美元买100个金币到99.99美元买12750个金币。

卡包按照质量划分等次：塑料、钢、铝、陶、碳纤维，质量比较高的卡包价格也高，碳纤维级别的卡包需要花费1499个金币（大概是13美元），但是能得到更稀有的赛车。

商店中也有根据年代、国家或者风格分类的卡片礼包。

选择多多

虽然你手头上的赛车都不怎么样，但是卡片数量少几乎不会成为你继续游戏的障碍。

如果你完成了一场漂亮的比赛，你就有机会获得免费卡片。在刚开始玩的时候系统会赠送给你一个相当不错的卡片包。玩家一般也不会出现缺少资金的情况，可以顺利地投资后续的卡包。

比较可能遇到的问题就是手头上的车太多了。玩家得到的新车会有24小时的时限，需要选择出售或者是加入到车库中，否则就会消失。

有意思的是车库只能放21辆车。这就是游戏的另一种盈利方式了，玩家可以花费400金币（大约是4美元）增加5个车位，最多可以一次性花费8800金币（大约是69美元）增加160个车位。

这个游戏机制挺好的，不会对非付费玩家造成什么影响，他们可以直接卖掉不想要的赛车换取现金，继续买卡包，接着再卖车，如此循环下去。

马上行动

Top Drives从一开始就非常慷慨，为玩家提供资金和礼物，这种慷慨可以说是促成双赢的有效办法。

早期的免费礼包会提供令人垂涎的奖励，但是必须等好几个小时才能获得，开发团队的意图就是提高留存率，这是第一也是最重要的。

不过出人意料的是，Top Drives的IAP并没有采取同样的做法，没有给玩家提供每日奖励。

那些等不及定时礼物的玩家，可以去购买新手包：包含5张赛车卡片——1张超级稀有、1张稀有、2张罕见、1张常见，还有2200金币，50000现金和10个免费的车位。售价1100金币（9.99美元），非常划算，而且你的实力能得到显著提升。

就算是在路人玩家、非付费玩家看来，Top Drives也是一款非常友好的游戏，不会让你犯难到想撞墙。

慷慨的馈赠、用软货币就能买得起的卡包、不会对玩家多加限制，想必玩家应该是能愉快地沉浸在游戏中，享受畅通无阻的游戏体验。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Welcome back to the In-App Purchase Inspector – our regular look at free-to-play games from the consumer’s perspective.

In each instalment, we consider the incentives or pressure applied to make in-app purchases, their perceived value, the expansion offered by IAPs and the overall value of the experience.

The end goal is to see whether the game makes a good enough case for us to part with our cash, or whether players are content – or engaged enough – to ‘freeload’.

This time we’re taking a look at Top Drives, a new vehicular collectible card game from London studio Hutch.

Vroom vroom

The success of CSR Racing and its sequel has provided ample proof that mobile games about cars don’t need to be about driving, per se.

Whatever control scheme you’re using, a mobile racer will always fall short of Forza. But by stripping away the actual driving and leaving only the light, rhythmic action of shifting gears, NaturalMotion allowed players to instead immerse themselves in a compelling metagame of buying and upgrading new cars.

Aiming to repeat this trick is Hutch, combining the mobile-friendly CCG formula with a racing theme. And it’s off to a flyer, bagging one million downloads in its first week.

In Top Drives, each card represents a car. Attached are various stats – Top Speed, 0-60 MPH in seconds, Grip, Drive and Tyres – and all the player has to do is select which cars should participate in which races.

The key, then, is to assess the strengths of the opposition vehicle and the demands of the track. And then, after choosing your vehicle, you simply watch the race unfold.

Garage of cards

So while the formula is different to CSR Racing, and actually feels quite novel, the essential loop relies on the same race to keep your cars’ stats high enough to beat ever-improving opposition.

The two currencies in Top Drives are Cash and Gold. Cash is used mainly for upgrading cards, but it can be saved up to buy card packs as well. Gold can also be used to buy card packs – exclusively so, in fact, at the premium tiers.

But while Gold is the more valuable currency, both Cash and Gold can be bought directly using real money. Cash ranges from $0.99 for 4,500 to $99.99 for 800,000, while Gold comes in bundles between $0.99 for 100 and $99.99 for 12,750.

Card packs are graded according to quality as follows: Plastic, Steel, Aluminium, Ceramic and Carbon Fiber. Higher quality packs cost more, the Carbon Fiber pack having a price tag of 1499 Gold (approximately $13), but offer rarer cars.

There are also packs that bundle together cars by era, country of origin or style.

Spoilt for choice

But while the quality of your collection may be questionable, having too few cards is rarely the problem in Top Drives.

There are chances to get free ones after very successful race, the game starts you out with a good selection of free packs, and there’s enough currency flowing to invest in further packs too.

Indeed, a more likely issue you’ll face is having too many cars. Every new vehicle you collect is held for 24 hours, during which time it must be either sold or added to the garage.
The catch is that the garage only has capacity for 21 cars. This is another way of monetising, with an extra five slots available for 400 Gold (approximately $4), and more available all the way up to 160 slots for 8,800 Gold (approximately $69).

It’s a nice mechanic because it doesn’t impinge on the non-paying user, who can simply sell unwanted cars for Cash, spend it on card packs and keep the cycle going.

Quick off the mark

What Top Drives offers is generous from the off with currency and gifts, but it uses this to its own advantage too.

Early free bundles promise tantalising rewards but don’t unlock for several hours, with an intent to drive retention first and foremost. It’s an approach that should yield good results for both Hutch and its players.

But surprisingly, this approach doesn’t extend to its IAPs, which do not feature annuities.

For those impatient for the timed gifts, however, there’s a Starter Pack which offers five cards – one Super Rare, one Rare, two Uncommon, one Common – as well as 2,200 Gold, 50,000 Cash and 10 free garage slots. At 1,100 Gold ($9.99), it’s provides excellent value for money and would offer a discernible boost.

But even for the average, non-paying player, there’s really very little to bang your head against in Top Drives.

Generous gifting, affordable soft currency card packs and a lack of limiting mechanics combine to make this a smooth, enjoyable journey free of roadblocks.（source：pocketgamer.biz ）