While the Alto games began their lives on mobile devices, they have now come to PC and consoles with The Alto Collection. This seems like a strange move at first, because both Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey were built with mobile devices in mind. Both games translate well to PC though, and they look and control better than ever on more powerful hardware. The trade-off, however, is that both games become very repetitive after awhile, but that doesn't change the fact they're beautiful ways to kill some time.
Both Alto games are endless runners where players step into the shoes of a character named Alto. In Adventure, Alto snowboards down a mountain while trying to save his llamas, who have run away. It is a very simple framing device that propels Alto onto his first journey. Alto's Odyssey, on the other hand, has no such framing device, but instead transports Alto to a desert environment where he decides to board down the slopes apparently just for fun. There is little story here, but that really isn't an issue as it lets players focus on gameplay instead.
The object of both games in The Alto Collection is relatively simple. Players have to snowboard down a procedurally generated mountain while avoiding hazards like rocks and pits. Players will need to jump in the air and do tricks in order to earn points and collect coins to buy upgrades. The Alto games are simple even for endless runner games, so most players will be able to hop right in pretty fast.
The Alto Collection is wonderfully simple on PC, as its touch-based controls have been worked into a simple one button system. Players only have to click the mouse to jump or hold it down in order to do back-flips. Jumping is used to leap over environmental hazards, but can also be used to jump onto high up wires and grind on them to build up trick points. By traveling further and building up points, players will be able to rack up a higher score when their run is finished.
There is a small amount of progression in The Alto Collection in that players are given goals to complete during their runs. The goals usually amount to doing a certain number of tricks or traveling a specific distance before crashing. By completing these goals, players will level up and be given more difficult goals to complete. Its a very simple system of progression, but its one that definitely sinks it teeth into the player and draws them in to come back for more.
The biggest problem with The Alto Collection is that both games are nearly identical. They both have the same art style, mechanics, and upgrades to acquire along the way. You can switch between the games at random and it feels like playing the exact same game. They released so far apart on mobile that it was easy to forget how similar the two games were, but it is very obvious when they come packaged together. This also means that the collection becomes very repetitive after a short amount of time.
The Alto Collection contains two great-looking mobile games which also happen to be some of the more competent endless runner games available today. Both worked perfectly on mobile, but The Alto Collection as a whole lose some of its charm in the move to new platforms. The repetition can be a little draining over time, but The Alto Collection is still a solid port of two great time-wasters, and if that's what players are in the market for, there's plenty here to like.
The Alto Collection can be played on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.