Barclaycard Rollercoaster app

David Fieldhouse, Strategy Director at Lucidity Mobile, gets to grips with the new Barclaycard Rollercoaster app.

Thursday, 29 July 2010

This app is interesting first of all because it is the follow-up to the hugely successful “Waterslide” app that Barclaycard released last year. Waterslide generated millions of downloads and was one of the first successful branded apps so a follow-up will always be looked at closely.

The top twenty paid and free apps in the Apple store tend to be games and utilities (a rough audit showed 75% are one or the other). A useful rule of thumb when producing apps is that they should help consumers either save time or kill time. Barclaycard has recognised this and continued with the gaming theme which worked so well for them the first time around.

The opening screen firstly allows consumers to enable sound effects for the game – consumers can also choose to listen to their own music instead which is a nice touch. The home screen then offers six clear navigation options for the user. The buttons here are a good size which plays to the strengths of the touch screen. The colours are also very rich which gives the app a quality feel.

On starting the actual game what strikes you initially is the sharpness and detail of the cityscape the rollercoaster travels through. The game is set around New York and creatively it is excellent – there is no doubting the city you are in and you actually find yourself (at least i did) looking at the skyline to identify famous landmarks rather than concentrating on the game.

The gameplay and options available are also improved on Waterslide. You can move left and right, duck and gain bonus points as well as having to beat a timer. This all creates a much more immersive experience when playing the game and will ensure repeat visits which are crucial. Consumers can also upload scores to a global leaderboard and win prizes which will maintain interest and prevent the app becoming a “throwaway” item.

Barclaycard have now added the ability to connect to Facebook via the app which is an important feature. Facebook is one of the most accessed destinations on mobile and tapping into this is a smart idea. Users can share scores and encourage other gamers and therefore downloads which can only be a positive.

Overall the game looks fantastic, is immersive enough to maintain interest and uses the strengths of the medium to add value for the user. What I like most however is the “light touch” used creatively for the actual branding. The game ties in with the new TV ad and so Barclaycard have resisted plastering the app with brand messages which is a positive. Less in this case is most definitely more.

Finally imagine if gamers’ app scores contributed to reward points on their actual Barclaycard account? Now that would really be something...