Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Highway Rider vs Hill Climb Racing

Highway Rider 4.4★ · Free + IAP · ⚠ stale 60
Winner Hill Climb Racing
Hill Climb Racing 4.6★ · Free + IAP 75

Hill Climb Racing is generally a better choice due to its higher lifetime rating and more consistent gameplay experience, despite recent issues with coin payouts, while Highway Rider suffers from significant user dissatisfaction over recent updates and excessive ads.

Full reviews: Highway Rider · Hill Climb Racing

Hill Climb Racing maintains a higher lifetime rating and is praised for its addictive gameplay and vehicle variety, though recent updates have reduced coin payouts. Highway Rider, while nostalgic for many, is criticized for its numerous ads, changes to core gameplay, and issues with in-app purchases.

Head to head

Features and Gameplay tieR6R8R9R10
Highway Rider Many Highway Rider users express strong nostalgia for older versions of the game, citing better physics, more characters, and unique elements like the hospital scene after crashes R6R8R10. Recent updates are widely criticized for removing these beloved features, changing physics, and making the game less fun R6R9R10. Some users find the current gameplay slower and less realistic R6.
Hill Climb Racing Hill Climb Racing is praised for its addictive nature, variety of vehicles, and fun physics-based racing . However, recent updates have significantly reduced coin payouts for air time and flips, making progression much slower and frustrating for many long-time players R61R64R66R67. Some users also report bugs with pedals not responding or the game crashing .
Ease of Use / User Experience tieR1R7R13R19
Highway Rider Highway Rider's user experience is severely hampered by an overwhelming number of ads, which appear frequently, sometimes after every death, and are often unskippable R1R7R13R19. Some users also report issues with reversed controls and graphics not updating on certain devices R7.
Hill Climb Racing Hill Climb Racing generally offers a straightforward user experience, but recent changes have introduced more frequent ad pop-ups, particularly for revives or coin doubling . Users also report that even after in-app purchases, ads for bonuses still appear . The significant reduction in coin payouts makes progression much slower, impacting the overall user experience R61R64R66.
Reliability and Support tieR1R4R7R28
Highway Rider Highway Rider users report issues with in-app purchases not delivering items like gas caps, leading to requests for refunds R1R4R28. There are also complaints about graphics not being updated on iPads and reversed controls without an option to change them R7.
Hill Climb Racing Hill Climb Racing users report bugs such as unresponsive pedals, game crashes, and in some cases, losing all progress including cars, money, and achievements after updates . There are also complaints about the Apple TV version having fewer features .
Price/Value (Free + IAP) tieR1R4R7R13
Highway Rider Highway Rider's free experience is heavily criticized due to an excessive number of ads, which many users find makes the game unplayable R1R7R13R19. Users also report issues with in-app purchases not being credited R1R4R28.
Hill Climb Racing Hill Climb Racing's value is diminished by recent updates that drastically cut coin payouts for in-game actions like flips and air time, making progression much slower and pushing users towards IAPs or watching more ads R61R64R66R67. Even after making purchases, some users still encounter ads for bonuses .
Pick Highway Rider if

You are looking for a game that evokes strong nostalgia for its original version and are willing to tolerate frequent ads and potential in-app purchase issues, or if recent updates have restored some of the old features you enjoyed .

Pick Hill Climb Racing if

You enjoy physics-based racing games with a variety of vehicles and tracks, and are prepared for slower progression due to recent changes in coin payouts, or if you are a long-time player who appreciates the core gameplay despite recent monetization efforts .

Evidence note: Both apps are free with in-app purchases, and much of the negativity for both stems from recent changes to monetization (ads, reduced in-game currency) impacting the free-tier experience and the value of IAPs. Reviews for both apps show a strong sentiment of nostalgia, with many users preferring older versions.

Frequently asked

Which game has better graphics?
Reviews for Highway Rider mention updated graphics that some users don't see on iPad or find make the game unplayable on standard iPhone screens R7R57, while Hill Climb Racing reviews occasionally praise its graphics R92.
Can you play these games offline?
Hill Climb Racing is explicitly mentioned as needing no WiFi R77, suggesting it can be played offline.
Are there many ads in Highway Rider?
Yes, Highway Rider is heavily criticized for having too many ads, with many users reporting ads after every ride, some unskippable, and a general feeling that the game is 'plagued with ads' R1R7R13R19.
Has Hill Climb Racing changed its coin system?
Yes, recent updates to Hill Climb Racing have significantly decreased the amount of coins earned from air time and flips, making it much harder and slower to progress and buy new vehicles or upgrades R61R64R66R67.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R6] Highway Rider 3/5 · US Nostalgia just isn’t there: Honestly they ruined it with the new version. If it was possible to make a setting to change the game to the og graphics and physics it would bring that feeling back.. and the moment I saw the ad after just dying once had me lokey tear up ngl, and the gameplay is slower than it used to be, but that could be just the fact I’m old now but still
  2. [R8] Highway Rider 5/5 · US CHANGE IT BACK TO THE OLD WAY: This game was WAYYYYYYY more fun than it is now SO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK
  3. [R9] Highway Rider 3/5 · US Why did they remove helmets?: Ruined the game
  4. [R10] Highway Rider 2/5 · US New update: Version 2.4 is better than 2.3 or 2.2, but I used to play this game all the time until I updated to version 2.2. Can you please update the app so it was like version 1.9. I miss getting awarded with gas caps, the blood, and riding with the Junkie, (guy in the motorcycle outfit.) Also the background and the nurse on the next page, and at the before the game started with the motorcycle w
  5. [R1] Highway Rider 1/5 · US I spent money it did not give caps and to meny adds: L game
  6. [R7] Highway Rider 1/5 · US Still missing updated iPad graphics: Update March 2026: The turning controls are now reversed, with no way to change them, so if you turn to the right, you actually go left. And the amount, type, and length of adds is really bad. Review update for version 1.8.4: Most of the crashes on iOS 8 devices when collecting mPoints have been fixed. However, the updated graphics introduced last year still
  7. [R13] Highway Rider 1/5 · US Used to be a fun: Now so much ads and not even fun
  8. [R19] Highway Rider 1/5 · US Greed loses customers: This game used to be my favorite mobile game with the rice rocket bike. Now its trash and yhey shove idiot game ads in your face as soon as you doe once. F that. Im not waiting for those stupid ads to end to play another round. I deleted the whole game. So for the douche bags who thought changing it up and stuffing it full of ads would do something for you, no. It lost a lon
  9. [R4] Highway Rider 1/5 · US Where is my gas caps: I just spent $6 on this game and it don’t give me my gas caps I need refund now
  10. [R28] Highway Rider 1/5 · US .: bough 2 deals and never got the parts
  11. [R57] Highway Rider 3/5 · GB Used to be great, now...not so much: Collision detection is distinctly flawed. Which is ironic for a game like this. And the improved graphics? I don’t see much difference except that it makes the game almost unplayable on a standard iPhone screen because you can’t see what’s coming...
  12. [R92] Hill Climb Racing 5/5 · US Good game: Definitely 5 star awesome games and good graphics and gravity
  13. [R77] Hill Climb Racing 5/5 · US Great game: This game is supper fun and needs no WiFi also has cars to drive also funny
  14. [R61] Hill Climb Racing 1/5 · US Bring back normal payouts: what's with these jokes? Decided to turn into a donation dump? Well, good luck. I deleted it immediately when I saw that payouts were cut by 2-3 times. · translated
  15. [R64] Hill Climb Racing 1/5 · US Money not working properly: So i recently bought the mutant and 1 day after buying it something strange happened. The game didnt update or anything yet my backflips now give 150 instead of 1000, missions give 45k instead of 100k and like this it’s impossible to do progress as quick as i used to.
  16. [R66] Hill Climb Racing 3/5 · US I hate the new money thing: They changed the amount of money that you gain and now its just a different vibe than it used to be
  17. [R67] Hill Climb Racing 1/5 · US Fix your game: Bring back original flip bonus and air time bonus the game sucks now

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store