Voodoo is the game developer that has brought us titles such as Snake vs. Block, Helix Jump, and a wide range of titles in the “.io” genre, such as Hole.io, Aquapark.io, and many others. This time, they’ve got a brand new racing game that, to be honest, isn’t really a racing game in the truest sense. Uphill Run, which is available on the App Store for iOS gamers, allows you to race against other human players and make it to the top of the hill, upon which you will be promoted to King of the Hill and given a new challenge – stay as long as possible in this position before getting overthrown and becoming a lowly runner once again.
It’s a back-to-basics game that only requires simple swiping to move left and right and to aim the cannon (while you’re King), and by all accounts, this is not one of those games – even in its genre – that will try to reinvent the wheel and overwhelm you with complexity.
It’s often thought that games in this genre don’t require lengthy, multi-part guides that explore every single feature and come loaded with intricate strategies that could help you outsmart opponents and outthink them in terms of strategy. That much may be true, but we still believe that games in the higher end of the genre do require a fair bit of explanation. That’s why we are still inviting you to check out our Uphill Run cheats, tips and tricks, which cover both main game types and offer advice for both facets of the multiplayer races – the running part and the cannon-firing part. We’re also going to show you how to unlock all the characters, so make sure you keep reading on!
1. The Basics Of Uphill Run
Although, Uphill Run is indeed a game that promises endless action across unlimited random levels, this title offers more than the average casual game with endless mechanics. First of all, the titular runs in this game are just one part of the multiplayer races – aside from racing against other human-controlled characters and avoiding the obstacles that are thrown your way, you will also get to be “The King” once you’ve crossed the finish line, as the roles are reversed – it will now be your turn to aim the cannon and fire some obstacles across the track to throw your opponents off and earn more points. So how does these multiplayer races – known as “King of the Hill” – work, in specific?
After choosing your character and hitting on the big green button, you will be matched with five other players and asked to swipe (actually more like tap-and-hold) on the screen to keep moving until you reach the finish line. You can swipe left and right in order to change direction and avoid the balls and other obstacles or, if you fancy playing dirty, pushing your opponents aside or toward a moving ball. Your first goal would be to reach the finish line without getting knocked down by an obstacle, and that’s where the challenge initially lies – no matter how close you are to the finish line, getting floored by an obstacle and unable to get up means you’re going to have to start from square one and head back to the starting line to redo everything. Crossing the finish line, as we mentioned, places you in the role of “King” as you take over from the AI.
While sitting as the King of the current race, you will have to aim your cannon in such a way that you hit as many opponents as possible – knocking them down earns you one point, and if you string together a combo and knock down multiple opponents in quick succession, you can earn more than one. Take note that this is the main way of scoring points in Uphill Run – reaching the finish line is only worth one point, so you’ll have to pay attention while firing at those opposing players! You will be “overthrown” as King once someone crosses the finish line – that will then require you to run once again as that player who crossed the finish line without getting hit would now become the King. Getting hit during this subsequent running attempt will earn that player points, so it’ll be up to you to be doubly vigilant while trying to avoid the new King’s shot attempts!
All King of the Hill races last a total of one minute long, so you will, in theory, have at least one chance to run and, if you’re able to cross the finish line within that minute, one chance or more to be King. The top three players in the race would earn dollars, which is the game’s only form of currency – third place gets you $20, second place gets you $30, and first place gets you $50. You can then watch an ad video to double your winnings, so make sure you take advantage of this opportunity if there are available videos to watch! (In most cases, there will be!)
2. Finishing First Is Not As Important As Finishing, Period
One thing to keep in mind early on is that the name of the game is Uphill Run, not Uphill Race – in other words, this is not a race as much as it is a matter of combining evasive moves while on foot and good aiming technique while you’re manning the cannon as King. You will notice that you will only get one point each for finishing the running parts of the King of the Hill, and that doesn’t matter if there’s somebody ahead of you or not. As we mentioned, the bulk of the points are earned by taking out as many opponents as possible while you’re King, while you allow your opponents (when they’re King) to score by getting hit by their projectiles. And it doesn’t matter how close you are to the finish line – if you’re unable to get up, it’s back to the starting line for you!
To sum this up and to underscore the very important point we’re trying to make – do not treat the King of the Hill like your usual race to reach the starting line first, because it definitely isn’t.
3. General Tips For Top-3 Finishes In King Of The Hill
Then again, King of the Hill IS a race to first place in a completely different way than the usual. We did mention that there are in-game currency prizes for those who finish first, second, and third in terms of points, and if you’re trying to finish in the top three, there are a few things to remember in every race.
First of all, when aiming the cannon, you shouldn’t look right away for players who are close to reaching the finish line. Instead, you should start targeting opponents while they’re as far away from the finish line as possible, as that leaves you more time to aim your next few shots without having to play catch-up and drastically alter your trajectory to prevent someone close to the finish from crossing the line and overthrowing you. We would advise you not to think about combos too much – they’re neat and they’re fun to pull off, but it’s best to let them come naturally as you focus mainly on knocking down opponents and forcing them to start from the top. Theoretically, you can have one whole run as King without running for a second time and easily beat your old record for most points scored!
If you need a little something extra to deter your opponents and make it harder for them to cross the finish line and overthrow you as King, you can use the Mega option on the bottom left of your screen – this option needs to be charged up first by hitting opponents with projectiles and with that in mind, it consequently has a cooldown time. But if you fire off a Mega ball at the right time, that could do you a world of good by stopping that one player who seems dangerously close to reaching the finish line.
Of course, in order to be King, you’ll need to cross the finish line, and as you’ll notice, it’s easier to reach the finish when the AI is handling the King duties and firing the cannon at the human players. That’s not to say there aren’t instances where your form may be thrown off – getting hit by a ball early on could be a major setback and could see you knocked down multiple times as you try in vain to reach the finish line! To this end, we would advise avoiding the ramps (especially the ones with arrows), humps, and arrows that result in a boost to your character’s speed if there’s a projectile that just might hit you if you get too close. Run on them by all means if the coast is clear, but if there’s a bouncing ball (or two, or three) impeding your path, you’re better off moving left or right as quickly as you could.
Not all of the race tracks may have this feature, but some of them have an incline on the left and right sides where you may be fairly safe from the King’s projectiles. Sure, you may move slower while running down this steeper path, but as we’ve stressed multiple times so far in this guide, you’re “racing” to score more points and racing against the clock, but not racing to cross the finish line first.
4. Use Single-Player Mode To Practice Your Running Technique
Although it’s fairly easy to rack up King of the Hill wins in Uphill Run, it’s also challenging if you’re trying to beat your old high score, which, at the end of the day, may be the goal for most players once they’ve unlocked all the available characters and won far more multiplayer races than they’ve lost. With that in mind, you can opt to play solo (the bottom right option on the main menu) and test your skills with the stakes dialed down. Solo mode will have you running from start to finish and trying to avoid obstacles, but in here, your run will end once you get hit by an obstacle, may it be a ball, a cow, or any of the other odd objects and animals that may fly your way as you progress from one level to the next in this mode. Also beware of the trap doors that you may fall into while making your way toward the finish! The obstacles and hurdles will be plentiful, but at least in here, you’re not racing against the clock or against other human players.
Completing a level in Solo Play will earn you some currency, depending on how many points you score – points are scored based on how many objects you can avoid running into. Again, you can watch ad videos to double your earnings when playing this mode. But that’s not the only way you could collect more currency in this game. Read on and we’ll let you know about another one of these methods!
5. Collect Those Offline Earnings
Uphill Run may not be an idle game, but it’s one of those non-idle titles that allow players the option to collect offline earnings. As is always the case, the longer you stay away from the game, the more money you can earn, though we believe the amount of offline earnings is capped depending on how leveled-up your characters at a given point in time. Still, you can easily earn well over a hundred dollars simply by ending your current play session, heading off to bed, and waking up the next morning (or afternoon, depending on your hours), upon which you can open your app and collect your offline earnings. It’s not often that casual games come with such a mechanic, so make sure to take advantage of it!
6. Use Your Currency To Upgrade Your Character’s Regular Speed And Boost Speed
Now that we’ve talked about how to earn more currency in Uphill Run, let’s move on to the topic of how to spend those dollars. As you’ll notice in the post-race menu for King of the Hill, you have the option to upgrade three stats in the game after each race is completed – your character’s Max Speed and Boost Speed, as well as the Ball Size. Max Speed is self-explanatory – this refers to your character’s maximum speed – and Boost Speed refers to their speed once they fly off a ramp or run through a path that has forward-facing arrows on it. Ball Size could work both ways – it makes it easier for you to take out opponents while you’re the King, but could also hinder your path more significantly while you’re not!
Now each of these three stats are fairly similar to each other in terms of importance, but if we were to arrange them from top to bottom priority, we would start out with Max Speed, because your characters need raw speed above anything else to outrun those projectiles, followed by Ball Size, as this could be instrumental during those all-important go-arounds as King. Boost Speed would arguably be the least important – boosting your speed, after all, is very risky if there’s danger ahead, and even if there isn’t, a bad landing could knock you down, even if you don’t come in contact with any actual obstacle! (And yes, that does also apply if you skid past the finish line after you land close to it – you have to cross the finish line with both feet on the ground!)
7. How To Unlock New Characters
While upgrading character skills and ball size will cost you some dollars, there is no cost when it comes to unlocking the many characters available in Uphill Run. All you need to do is to finish a King of the Hill race in the top three in order to get a key to the chest, and once you’ve got three keys collected, you can tap on the chest on the bottom left of the screen and unlock a new runner, or character, at random. Keep repeating this whenever you’ve got three keys, or watch an ad video to get a free key to make it a third – the choice is yours, but at the end of the day, remember one of the golden rules of endless casual gaming.
That golden rule, of course, is the fact that all characters in this game play identically to each other. Regardless whether you’re playing as a brown bear, a panda, an alien, a zombie, a turtle, or whatnot, none of the characters come equipped with special skills or advantages over the other – there’s no such thing as a character with extra speed or extra durability against projectile hits or an extra-good aim while King. The only differentiating factors between you and your opponents would be your individual Max Speed, Boost Speed, and Ball Size stats, depending on how you’ve been carrying out your upgrades.
Even with that all said, we can’t deny that it’s fun to collect new characters and to play as them, so don’t let this lack of differentiation deter you from adding to your collection! If anything, switching characters is good for breaking the monotony of playing as the same one over and over again.
This wraps up our guide for Voodoo’s new mobile game, Uphill Run. If you happen to know other tips or tricks for the game, please let us know in the comment area below!