Does Not Commute Guide

Does Not Commute becomes an even more curious prospect. Viewed entirely from above, the goal is to guide a series of motorists to their goal, navigating across a roll of different road junctions in as quick and efficient manner as possible. Using on screen controls, this is especially easy to begin with  the roads are clear, the route clearly defined, the process entirely straightforward. Once said car (or, latterly, bike or boat) reaches its goal, your task is completed. Job done, right? Well, it is until the next car rolls into view. It’s here that your task starts to get a bit more complicated, as time rewinds and you’re charged with getting car two, three, four and so on to their goals without hitting any of the vehicles whose routes you’ve already successfully navigated. This means that, though you start out with an entirely clear track, ten or more vehicles in, Does Not Commute becomes as busy and hectic as the North Circular on your average weekday morning. every stage in Does Not Commute comes with a ticking clock. Every journey you’re tasked with making takes vital seconds off a clock that runs throughout the entire game. The longer you take, the more collisions you make, the more seconds slip off your overall time – and when time is up, it’s up for good. Game over. Journey’s end. Engine switched firmly off. It’s here that Does Not Commute gets a little tactical.

Extra seconds – typically available in batches of 10 and 20 – can be picked up on route, but they tend to be placed in hard to reach areas likely to cause a crash or two. Likewise, though you can rewind a calamitous journey to have second, third or fourth bash at making it your destination without collision, doing so snips a second from your clock each time. When you consider that any contact between vehicles then causes them to limp to the line from then onwards, success comes from realising whether starting again will erode more or less time.As the maps get more complicated and the amount of traffic heads skywards, it’s one that quickly ends up being in rather short supply. This is, of course, where the thrill come from; though levels are over in a matter of minutes and your bursts of play are restricted to just a few seconds at a time, the long term goal of completing the entire game with the same clock running down from start to finish is an enthralling one, especially when the task at hand appears so eminently achievable. And this is all before you consider – and indeed praise – the wrapper that Does Not Commute comes in. There’s absolutely no practical need for developer Mediocre Games to have fostered such elaborate back stories for the game’s comical commuters – it has no impact on play, no effect on whether you real your goal or not. It’s simply a nice added touch that gives Does Not Commute something scores of mobile games overlook: a sense of character. Couple that with gameplay that’s centred around being accessible and exacting at the same time, and you have a game that has rather more fuel in the tank than you might initially give it credit for.

As you progress through the game, you’ll be given other types of vehicles to drive, including ATVs, mopeds, and boats. Each one handles a little differently, providing an extra challenge in navigation. For example, top-heavy ice cream or garbage trucks hug tightly to corners, while others drift in wide arcs, often sending them careening into other cars or buildings.When you start the first level, you’re given only 60 seconds of drive time to complete it, and while crashing a car doesn’t immediately disqualify you from finishing a run, it will make things significantly harder by slowing you down quite a bit.If you do happen to wreck or just have a bad run, you can use the handy rewind feature by tapping the button in the upper-left corner to restart your current car. That convenience comes at a cost, however, as doing so will knock one second off of your remaining time. That may not seem like much, but if you have to restart a car five or ten times, it can quickly take out a large portion of your timer. You can also gain extra time by driving over tokens that appear on the map. They’ll reward you with an additional few seconds to finish your commute, and they’re very important in making sure that you’re able to reach higher levels because the timer carries over between each map, meaning any time you waste on the first level is time you won’t get back on the second.

Finishing levels will earn you new power-ups that can be used to enhance certain aspects of your car. A turbo boost can increase your speed, but will wreck your handling. Armor can make your car invincible in the event of a collision, but will drag down your acceleration. The gameplay on its own might quickly become tedious if not for the inclusion of a quirky cast of characters that you’re responsible for getting through their daily lives. While some of these citizens are simply trying to get to work or the grocery store, others have more unusual plans.You’ll see a lot of the same characters pop up across levels, along with relatives and friends. Everything that happens in the game is connected to a bigger story. If you pay close attention to each driver’s introduction, you’ll start to see patterns emerge.Does not Commute is a driving game that tasks you with navigating a car from point A to point B. The car drives forward automatically, and you tap the right side of your screen to turn right, or the left side to turn left. It sounds simple, and that’s because it is. After you successfully guide your first car across the neighborhood to its exit point, you’ll be asked to do the same with a second car with new starting and ending points.That’s where the game starts to get tricky.
 

Every time you start a new car, you have to find a path to the exit that keeps you from ramming into your other vehicles as they replay the exact routes you just drove. Things can get hectic pretty quickly. There are 13 cars on the first level alone. As you progress through the game, you’ll be given other types of vehicles to drive, including ATVs, mopeds, and boats. Each one handles a little differently, providing an extra challenge in navigation. For example, top-heavy ice cream or garbage trucks hug tightly to corners, while others drift in wide arcs, often sending them careening into other cars or buildings.When you start the first level, you’re given only 60 seconds of drive time to complete it, and while crashing a car doesn’t immediately disqualify you from finishing a run, it will make things significantly harder by slowing you down quite a bit.If you do happen to wreck or just have a bad run, you can use the handy rewind feature by tapping the button in the upper-left corner to restart your current car. That convenience comes at a cost, however, as doing so will knock one second off of your remaining time. That may not seem like much, but if you have to restart a car five or ten times, it can quickly take out a large portion of your timer.