How to Play Cyber Surfer
Cyber Surfer is a free 3D endless runner you play in your browser or on iPhone and iPad. You drive a rocket-thruster supercar down a winding neon highway that never ends: weave through traffic, hop over cars, land on truck roofs, pull off tricks and stay ahead of the police for as long as you can. A run lasts from one to five minutes, and every run is different.
The goal
The car drives forward on its own and gets faster the longer you survive. One crash ends the run. Your score grows with the distance you cover (one point a meter), and you earn extra points for tricks, near misses (passing right beside a car in the next lane), police takedowns and stunts. Beat your best score, then climb the online leaderboard.
Controls
| Action | Touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Change lanes | Swipe left or right | ← → or A / D |
| Hop over a car or onto a truck roof | Swipe up | ↑, W or Space |
| Kickflip in the air | Swipe up again | ↑, W or Space again |
| Slam back down (or stomp what's below you) | Swipe down | ↓ or S |
| Spin in the air for trick points | Tap while in the air (when you hold no skill) | R |
| Use your skill | Tap | E or Enter |
| Boost when the meter has charge | The boost button | Shift or Q |
| Garage, pause, sound | Menu buttons | G, P (or Esc), M |
The road twists, climbs and dips, but you never steer: the three lanes follow every curve for you, so you only decide which lane to be in and when to jump. Not sure yet? The Tutorial button on the start screen walks you through every move on a slowed-down road where you can't crash.
Tricks and stunts
- Barrel roll: change lanes while you're in the air.
- Kickflip: hop again while you're in the air.
- Spins: tap (or press R) in the air. The more air time you have, the more turns you get. Orange ramps launch you high enough for several. If you're holding a skill, a tap uses the skill instead, so spin with R or use the skill first.
- Land it: every roll, flip and spin must be finished when the wheels touch down, or the jump's tricks don't count.
- Roof surfing: hop onto box trucks, flatbeds and garbage trucks and ride along on top, safe above the traffic.
- Half-pipes, grind rails and sky lanes: special stunt sections in a lane or raised above the road pay out big trick bonuses.
The tricks and scoring guide has every point value and how the combo works.
Police heat
A heat meter of up to five stars works like a wanted level. It rises when a speed camera flashes you, when you smash into traffic, and with every third near miss in a row, and it cools down when you drive clean. More stars bring more trouble: a helicopter that sweeps its spotlight to find you, cop cars that chase and box you in, roadblocks with a single gap, spike strips across the lanes and, at five stars, an armored Interceptor boss. Hit the Interceptor three times (with an EMP, a shockwave, the laser, a stomp on its roof, a crash into traffic, or by ramming it while you boost) to take it down for a big bonus. More in the police heat guide and the Interceptor guide.
The nine skills
Glowing skill boxes float above the road. Drive or hop through one to pick up a random skill, then tap to use it. You hold one skill at a time.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Nitro | A burst of speed that smashes through traffic unharmed for three seconds |
| Force field | For five seconds, anything you hit flies off the road instead of wrecking you |
| EMP | Nearby cars float up out of your way, cops go down and the helicopter drops |
| Smoke | You turn to smoke and pass through anything; use it while spotted and the police lose you |
| Decoy | A hologram car splits off and the police chase it instead |
| Magnet | Pulls in every coin and battery nearby |
| Lane Laser | Clears everything in your lane |
| Shockwave | Three pulses that fling cars, cops and obstacles to the roadside |
| Hover | Lifts the car on its thrusters to fly above traffic for a few seconds |
Batteries on the road fill your boost meter. Boost to go faster and plow through anything in your way. The skills guide covers every skill in detail.
The eight districts
Every 800 meters you drive through a tunnel into a new district, each with its own weather and a twist that changes how you play. Every run starts in Neon Downtown; the other seven come in a different order each time. From the fifth district on, night falls.
- Neon Downtown: rush hour, with extra traffic.
- Harbor District: rain and a wet, slippery road.
- Desert Highway: sandstorms that cut your view.
- Snowy Pass: snow and ice patches.
- Volcano Road: embers in the air and falling rocks.
- Coastal Highway: bonus coins and extra ramps.
- Jungle Run: mist and falling trees.
- Sky Highway: above the clouds, with low gravity for huge jumps.
Watch for the warning that appears before a hazard such as falling rocks, a fallen tree, a sandstorm or ice. Each district has its own section in the districts guide.
Coins and the garage
Coins you collect stay with you between runs. Spend them in the garage on looks only: paint with gloss, metal, chrome, matte or neon finishes, accent colors, thruster flame colors, trails and rims. Nothing in the garage makes the car stronger, so every player competes on skill. See the full price list in the garage guide.
Leaderboard, saves and devices
You don't need an account. The game saves your progress on your device and in the cloud, and puts your best runs on the all-time and weekly leaderboards under a nickname you can change. To move your progress to another device, open the Leaderboard and use Play on another device? to get a one-time code. The leaderboards and saves guide explains the rest.
Tips for a high score
- Hop early: it's easier to clear a car than to squeeze past it at top speed.
- Truck roofs are safe ground above the traffic. Ride them through busy stretches.
- Save a Force field for heavy traffic later in the run: for five seconds you can drive straight through it.
- Near misses are worth points but raise your heat. Cool off before the helicopter finds you.
- Save a Shockwave or the Lane Laser for a roadblock, and an EMP for the Interceptor.
- In the Sky Highway, low gravity keeps you in the air longer: one spin fits more turns, for a big trick score.
Want more? Read the high score guide.
Questions
Is it free? Yes. The game is free to play; ads in the iPhone and iPad app help pay for it. In the app, after a crash you can watch a short ad to continue your run, once per run. The website doesn't show ads yet, so there a crash ends the run.
Does it work offline? Yes. Add it to your home screen from your browser and it plays without a connection (the leaderboard catches up when you're back online).
What devices does it run on? Any recent phone, tablet or computer with a modern browser. There's also an app for iPhone and iPad, Cyber Surfer: Neon Run on the App Store.