Perfect Grind Tips and Tricks

Perfect Grind, a bold entry into the genre of skateboarding games, is the latest addition to acclaimed developer Noodlecake’s roster. Noodlecake is best known for the Alto’s Adventure series and they bring the same passion and zeal into this project as well. However sadly much of the content is behind a paywall and what is available can only be treated as a demo. But that does not mean that it is not fun. The controls although simple require practice to master and combine tricks to form combos and rack up high scores.

Perfect Grind is available on Android as well as on IOS.

Getting Characters

The game has multiple playable characters to choose from. Some characters can only be purchased once the full game is bought. While the remaining can be acquired by collecting character tokens by playing the game. This is similar to Subway Surfers where some characters are purchased by coins and others by collecting character specific tokens. For the free version collecting wheels is not necessary as all the characters that can be bought are locked.

In each run, tokens for each character that has not been unlocked are generated. One simply has to reach them to collect them. Collect enough and a new character can be unlocked. One can unlock Spaceman, Funches and Yokozuma through collecting character tokens.

Playing Perfect Grind

The controls of Perfect Grind is simple yet complex. All you need to do to control the skater is use your finger to swipe and tap. But what the taps and swipes do changes based on certain conditions.

Basic Movements: Swipe and release to start moving. Swipe in any direction to perform jumps. To stop slide down and hold.

Grinds: To grind, first jump near a surface you can grind on and then tap and hold to initiate the grind. Once the grind begins simply slide your finger left or right to balance the skater while they are on the edge or rail.

Jumps: Swipe in any direction to jump. On a curved ramp jumping right before exiting the ramp will allow for a larger vertical jump. Vertical Jump allow for aerial tricks. Swiping and holding leads into aerial tricks such as 360 nosegrabs and many others. Tapping and holding from a vertical jump levels the skater allowing you to reach the occasional rail placed high up.

Chaining Combos

In perfect combos to get a high score you need to chain combos. The easy answer would be to master the game but sometimes a challenge or high score might be just out of reach. There are two ways I found which made chaining combos easier for me.

Manuals: Performing manuals instead of skating normally in between tricks allows you to keep the score multiplier and trick combo going. A manual can be performed by jumping and sliding up or down and holding. Once initiated it requires balancing the character which is similar to the controls in Grinds except instead of horizontally balancing them you are balancing them vertically. A manual can also be performed by sliding the finger down and holding when you are in air.

Rails and Walls: Often rails and walls are placed close together. This is a perfect opportunity to rack up high scores as you can simply grind the rail, hop on the wall and back on the rail. Doing this multiple times without error will easily lead to long combos and high scores. The only downside is that it is repetitive.

Get the full version of Perfect Grind

Unfortunately, a significant portion of the game’s content is locked behind a paywall. You need to purchase the full game to get further in the career mode, get access to more skate parks, further customise your character, create your own skate park, get more characters, have more challenges and get further in the career mode. Now it does not mean the free version is not enjoyable, but the game does a good job of letting you know what you are missing out on and it leaves a nagging desire to go ahead and support the dev by purchasing the full version.

In the free version, you can only challenge yourself to continue enjoying the game. There is no goal or motivating force left that would make you continue other than the simple joy of challenging yourself or the love for skateboarding. But in most cases, these are not motivating enough and the need to unlock the game arises.

Conclusion

The game is well made but the locking of content behind a paywall should have been better implemented to allow for larger reach and accessibility to those unable to purchase the content. But apart from this, there are no blemishes in the game. It is enjoyable even in the free version and one can easily spend minutes if not hours skating and performing tricks. The art style is endearing and well-made. The game is easily worth the price for the full version.