Doritos Crash Course (formerly titled as Avatar Crash Course) is a 3D sidescrolling platforming advergame developed by Wanako Games for the Xbox 360. It was released for free as one of the finalists of the "Unlock Xbox" competition sponsored by Doritos, alongside Harms Way.[1] The concept for the game was designed by Jill Robertson from Raleigh, North Carolina, inspired by Japanese game shows such as Sasuke. On December 29, 2010, the game was announced the winner of the second "Unlock Xbox" competition.[2]
On December 17, 2015, the game was added to the backwards compatibility program, making it playable on Xbox One and later Xbox Series X/S consoles.[3]
Gameplay
In Doritos Crash Course, the players have to get their Xbox 360 avatars through increasingly difficult obstacle courses before the time runs out.[4] Each course has a various number of checkpoints scattered throughout. If the avatar falls off the course, the game will begin from the last passed checkpoint.[5] The game is composed of three locations (United States, Europe, and Japan), each having five levels. Some of the obstacles include collapsing floors, swinging ropes, chains, and water balloons.[6]
Reception
The game received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7]
Since its release, the game sold 1,449,359 units worldwide by January 2011.[13] Sales of the game moved up to 4,222,820 units by the end of 2011.[14]
Downloadable content
On January 2, 2013, the "City Lights" DLC was made available for $1.99 (USD). The pack contains fifteen levels spanning Las Vegas and London, along with the new versions of the levels set in Japan from the original game.[15]
Doritos Crash Course Go!
Doritos Crash Course Go! (sometimes known as Doritos Crash Course GO) is a Windows 8 port of Doritos Crash Course released on April 11, 2013[16]. It featured 25 levels (15 main game levels from the Xbox 360 and 10 levels from the "City Lights" DLC). The easier versions of Japan levels featured in "City Lights" DLC replaced the original harder ones in this version. The game was delisted from the Microsoft Store on May 21, 2014, leaving no official way to get this version. [17]
Sequel
On May 8, 2013, the sequel named Doritos Crash Course 2 was released for free on Xbox Live Arcade.[18] Similar to the first game, avatars controlled by the players will participate in obstacle courses. Leaderboards allow competitions with friends online, where up to four players can in local multiplayer.[19] The game brings out 4 new worlds (Amazon, Antarctic, Egypt, and Pirate Island) with five courses each. Unlike in Doritos Crash Course, players must collect stars, which are used to unlock levels, buy power-ups and effects that change avatars' appearance in-game.[20]
On April 17, 2014, Microsoft Studios announced that on October 15, 2014, the servers for this game would be should down, rendering the game unplayable.[21] A week later, on April 24, 2014, the game was delisted from the Xbox Games Store[22].
See also
External links
References
- Mike Fahey. Which Free Doritos Xbox Game Is The Cheesiest? Kotaku, G/O Media, December 8, 2010, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Fans Select 'Doritos Crash Course' as Winner of Doritos Unlock Xbox Challenge PR Newswire, December 30, 2010, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- 16 More Backwards Compatible Titles Revealed TrueAchievements, retrieved 2026-03-18^
- Vicente Martin Mastrocola, Mauro Miguel Rodrigues Berimbau. Doritos Crash Course: using a game as a platform for advertising and branding retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Joanne Powell, Linda Kaye. The Effect of Physical Co-Location on Social Competence, Gaming Engagement and Gamer Identity within a Competitive Multiplayer Game Open Science Journal of Psychology, February 26, 2019, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Tony Kelso. The Social Impact of Advertising Rowman & Littlefield, September 14, 2018, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Doritos Crash Course Metacritic, Fandom, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Oscar Diaz. Review de Dorito's Crash Course [sic] HobbyConsolas, Axel Springer SE, December 14, 2010, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Natsu. Test : Doritos Crash Course Jeuxvideo.com, Webedia, January 5, 2011, retrieved September 25, 2019^
- OXMUK staff. Doritos: Crash Course Official Xbox Magazine UK, Future plc, January 30, 2011, retrieved September 25, 2019^
- Ryan Conway. Corporate Sponsorship 101: Harm's Way [sic] & Doritos Crash Course VentureBeat, December 29, 2010, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Tom Orry. Doritos Crash Course Review VideoGamer.com, Resero Network, December 13, 2010, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Ryan Langley. In-depth: Xbox Live Arcade's 2010 Sales Revealed Game Developer, Informa, January 27, 2011, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- Ryan Langley. Xbox Live Arcade by the numbers - the 2011 year in review Game Developer, Informa, January 20, 2012, retrieved January 12, 2025^
- David Hinkle. Doritos Crash Course 'City Lights' DLC stumbles onto Xbox Live Engadget (Joystiq), Yahoo! Ine., January 2, 2013, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Upcoming Xbox Game Releases www.trueachievements.com, retrieved 2026-03-18^
- Doritos Crash Course GO Delisted TrueAchievements, retrieved 2026-03-18^
- James Orry. Doritos Crash Course 2 is free on Xbox LIVE Arcade VideoGamer.com, Resero Network, May 8, 2013, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Don Hatfield. FREE 'DORITOS CRASH COURSE 2' HITS XBOX LIVE THIS WEEK MTV, Paramount Media Networks, May 6, 2013, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Joe Donato. Review: Doritos Crash Course 2 isn't a great ad for chips, but it's a fun platformer GameZone, May 13, 2013, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Keith Gray. Doritos Crash Course 2 Closing Down Soon TrueAchievements, TrueGaming Network Ltd., April 17, 2014, retrieved January 13, 2025^
- Doritos Crash Course 2 Gets Delisted TrueAchievements, retrieved 2026-03-18^