Bike like a cool kid, without the threat of spandex
From a group of local developers who swear they're gonna make Philly a video game hotbed, HCC's a JobsPhone app with SNES-style graphics and an equally old-school soundtrack, in which you pedal through a timed course on the mean streets of 'hoods like West Philly and NoLibs as you rack up points by getting done as fast as possible and looking cool to chicks, something that generally can't be accomplished by getting done as fast as possible. How it works:
- You play as Binky, a trust-funded paralegal whose idea of cool is to be a penniless cycling legend, lose everything, and end up destitute.
- Pedal by alt-tapping either side of the phone, tilt to steer, and brake by pressing both pedals. To break, press both pedals really hard.
- As you lose money, you gain access to crappier neighborhoods. Lose $25K to enter NoLibs, lose $75K to enter West Philly. (Note: under no circumstances should the real you enter West Philly.)
- Pedaling burns energy, which can be regained by slowing down, picking up burritos and espressos, and smacking pedestrians.
- Pull a coolness-earning trackstand to up your speedy-launch-ensuring boost meter, which also goes up the more you yell "Where you at, dog?"
- Beat challenges to unlock 13 frames and 36 wheel sets, for 16k variations and a truly custom ride.
- All characters in the background were modeled after actual partying hipsters, who knew about this game when the fixie was a penny farthing, and it was played via a flipbook of crude drawings.
An Android version's rumored to be in the works and, while the graphics are cartoonish, the game's surprisingly realistic in that cars hurt, people in the parks are rude, and that it's very difficult to look cool to chicks while you're playing it.