Amazing Runner Review

Oh my God, they just made the best endless runner game of all time. Temple Run is fun and I wasn’t personally fond of Agent Dash, but Amazing Runner gets the basics right and adds a bunch of new twists that totally invigorate the genre. It makes you feel like a Parkour runner.

Like traditional endless runner games, Amazing Runner gives you a third person view of your avatar running down a path, this time in a futuristic city landscape. Like Temple Run or Agent Dash, you can tilt left or right, jump over gaps and collect coins. You probably know this already, but even if this is your first endless runner you’ll pick it up very easily.

Amazing Runner actually defies gravity because you can run on side walls, or upside down on ceilings. This practically doubles your set of moves. Swipe left or right to jump on the sides, up to go upside down and down to return to the path. The most striking new twist to the endless runner path, literally, is a corkscrew loop that you navigate by swiping the screen in circles until you come out the other side, which is just totally awesome. You can also bust through barriers by tapping them.

These new physics could have made a game impossible, but Amazing Runner is the most natural feeling runner game I’ve ever played. You can see what’s coming up in front of you so you have plenty of time to make the right move. You can just get into a groove of wall running, ceiling jumping and loop-de-looping so you feel like you’re really in this world and corkscrewing is just second nature.

I’m not saying I’m good at this game. I probably die as much as I do in Temple Run or Agent Dash, but I don’t feel angry when it happens. I just want to get up and run again. Any mistake I made was my own, so it’s just a matter of practice. Some comments in the iTunes store say that the corkscrew was impossible to control. I feel the complete opposite, those are the easiest obstacles to get through.

The graphics are gorgeous. Those running paths of the future look like something out of The Fifth Element and the soothing techno music makes you totally immersed in this world. Through collecting gems (or purchasing them in game) you can buy power-ups to upgrade your health and gem collecting abilities, or single use items to warp or respawn. I found the rocket boost more detrimental, because it seems to drop you in front of hazards before you have time to jump or burst through them. So be careful. Additional avatars are also available for purchase, including a robot or an old man!

The only thing I still feel hesitant about in endless runner games is the random nature of the path. I feel like I’d have more fun if it was a pre-determined level and you could really achieve something by making it all the way to the end. I realize that would make the game finite and the current endless runner model makes it infinite. It just feels like you’re not really accomplishing anything if it goes on forever, but of course you are always trying to go further than before.

Amazing Runner is the most addictive endless runner yet. It’s just a beautiful game that’s easy to play but a constant challenge. It just feels like those amazing runners are extensions of my finger, and I can do anything in this world. It would be a cliche to say Amazing Runner is amazing, so I'll say it's fantastic just to be different.

Store Link: Amazing Runner for iPhone & iPad | By iFreyr Games | Price: $0.99 | Version: 1.0 | 53.0 MB | Rating 4+