Christmas came early for GadgetHead this year with another Anki OVERDRIVE product arriving in the office, this time it was the Family Bundle with a cheeky Supertruck thrown in for good measure.

 The Family Bundle comes with the Starter Kit-4 straight pieces, 6 corner pieces, 2 cars- GroundShock and Skull, 3 accessories. The Corner Kit- 2 corner pieces, the Speed Kit- 2 straight pieces, the awesome Launch Kit as well as two extra cars Thermo and Nuke. As with all the Anki OVERDRIVE it is so quick and easy to construct, the track snaps together with magnet connectors and can be assembled in any way possible, the cars will learn the track so you can make it as easy or as difficult as you like. Each car has its own unique powers (thankfully they are only virtual powers), Thermo has a Flame Thrower, Nuke has Ultra-High Energy Blasts, GroundShock has its Electropulse, Skull has a Plasma Cannon whilst the new Supertruck (Freewheel) boasts a Gravity Trap.

The Great thing about the Anki OVERDRIVE is how it will keep you entertained whether you play against your friends or against the AI, in Open Play there are 5 modes to choose from- Battle, Race, King of the Hill, Time Trial and the new Takeover mode (Supertruck needed for this mode) which can be played with or against up to 3 friends, you can even level the playing field by setting all the cars back to the default mode making it fair for new or younger players! It is equally as entertaining to play on your own against the AI which slowly increases in difficulty and tests you in different challenges whether it's beating your opponent by speed, time or with the weapons it is all quite addictive.

The OVERDRIVE’s magic resides in Infra-red encoding patterns embedded in the track and an IR transparent ink top coat for traction and protection, these codes serve as markers of lane position (there are 16 possible lanes), and track piece type and orientation. The Supercars and Supertrucks are equipped with a tiny 50Mhz computer and infrared cameras then translates this data to determine where they are in relation to the overall track, how fast they’re moving, and which direction they’re headed.

 Bluetooth Low Energy communication with the phone makes the car react quickly to controller inputs. Before a race or battle beings, the Supercars collectively scan the track using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms to discover the user-built track configuration, as well as localise all the cars and evaluates thousands of possible future states and actions every second. The OVERDRIVE transforms your smart phone into a remote control so it is best to check the website for compatibility, the minimum requirements are an iOS 8 or higher, Bluetooth 4.00 (with full BLE support) and Android 4.4. We absolutely love this starter kit, there is something so satisfying about watching the cars fly over the launch pad. The Bundle has everything you need for hours of endless fun without needing to save up for expansion packs and the new Takeover game play is thrilling (think Fast and Furious on a miniature scale).

The Supertruck brings a whole new driving experience to the game, it starts off a lot slower than the cars but the speed soon builds up until you reach “Rage” level when the special powers become even more damaging. Sadly, the charge time is still quite short, you can get about 4 races out of each charge but thankfully it only takes 20minutes to recharge, due to the clever technology that’s being used here the Family Bundle. Expansion kits and Supertrucks are costly but for loads of different game modes that is constantly being updating we believe that Anki OVERDRIVE is a worthwhile investment. RRP £299.99

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5 out of 5

Pros

Fun and addictive

Easy to assemble (and disassemble to store away)

Suitable for young and old 

App is easy to use

Game updates

New supertruck and takeover game mode

Quick charge time

Cons

Costly