Tweet Land: Route 140 Plays With Reality

So you’re speeding down the highway on your racecar, feeling pretty bad ass when OH GOD WHAT EVEN IS THAT ARE THOSE LADY GAGA’S ENORMOUS ARMADILLO SHOES? You swerve to avoid the massive Mother Monster only to be stopped in your tracks by a horde of lolcats and people who want to hug you.

That’s the premise of Tweet Land: Route 140. Sort of. Tweet Land has had some coverage since early 2011, and for good reason—the game takes a look at what’s being posted on Twitter and generates random obstacles based on those tweets. As well as generating natural disasters and things that want to kill you, tweets fueled by the word “hate” can generate weapons and events that will help you reach your destination rather than hinder your progress. On the flipside, tweets containing the word “love” can spawn people who want to hug you, which I suppose could be distracting on the road.

The game, developed by Why Ideas, began as a Kickstarter project and quickly reached its funding goals. It’s not hard to see why—Tweet Land: Route 140 is an innovative and intriguing concept and I think I’d be hard pressed to find a person who wasn’t interested in seeing how it works.

Tweet Land employs an energetic soundtrack and charming retro graphics to set the scene for real-time Twitter adventures. It was released in the iOS App Store on January 31 and costs $1.99.

My only concern is, given the most common trending topics on Twitter, how many Justin Bieber-related events am I going to have to endure?