It’s Wednesday again and the App Store is almost back up to being the fully armed and operational Death Star it was prior to the holiday freeze. There’s some good games in here tonight, ranging from the surprise release of a Temple Run sequel to another Square game with enough IAP to choke a horse. As usual, all of these games will be available at 11:00 PM Eastern, or potentially way earlier if you’re in a European or Asian region.
Brooklyn Ninja, 99¢ – Forum Thread – I’m not sure where “Brooklyn" comes in to play with this action platformed is a bit of a mystery as none of the screenshots feature fixies or PBR.
Busy Bags, 99¢ – Forum Thread – A baggage claim management game is an interesting premise, as I’ve always wanted to just act as baggage claim traffic controller in real life as everyone aimlessly mills around during (one of) the most irritating parts of flying!
Final Fantasy: All The Bravest, $2.99 – Forum Thread – A strange Final Fantasy “greatest hits" title of sorts featuring Cloud, Terra, and other recognizable characters. According to the thread, it features a prize wheel IAP mechanic for unlocking new dudes, so strap in for that.
Heroes and Castles, $1.99 – Forum Thread – This looks like a really cool genre blend between the typical castle defense game and an action RPG. Definitely excited to see how this plays out.
Infestor, 99¢ – Forum Thread – The curious combination of Plague Inc-like infection-centric gameplay with Lemmings-style puzzle solving. Neat.
Keep Moving by Dopame, 99¢ – Forum Thread – If you’re fortunate enough to live in a dense area where people actually play geolocation-centric games, this one looks sort of cool.
Lode Runner Classic, $2.99 – Forum Thread – I can’t wait to relive childhood memories of failing to beat even the earliest levels of this classic gold collecting game.
Momonga Pinball Adventures, 99¢ – Forum Thread – A cool looking adventure game played with a pinball mechanic. Think Sonic Spinball (and similar) games, but with a flying squirrel.
Temple Run 2, Free – Forum Thread – Often imitated but never duplicated, Temple Run has gotten a little dated compared to similar games by other developers. Temple Run 2 ups the ante with better graphics, more variety, and other neat stuff.
Terminal Escape, 99¢ – Forum Thread – Apparently the premise of this game is that airport security has been ramped up to the point of some sort of crazy gauntlet, and you’re playing through it.
Tin Man Can, 99¢ – Forum Thread – A race-y platformed of sorts that features cool art, a single player campaign, and online multiplayer.
Undead Soccer, Free – Forum Thread – The end result of what happens when you run out of game genres to mash zombies into, I guess.
Zen Training, 99¢ – Forum Thread – Another casual puzzler from Crescent Moon’s Forest Moon spinoff label.
Solid review, Jared.
In before "Why does this game get 4.5 stars if it's so derivative when you slam other games for their lack of originality all the time?"
Eli: "Reviews are subjective, try going outside and see how you feel in half an hour."
Why don't you get some puppets and reenact the whole scene!
Because that's stupid
Sheep
Thanks
Wow.. Another templerun review! Lol xD
I thought it was funny too. I think TA should create an award for the most reviewed game of the year. If they like being redundant, then they should own it.
This is the only Temple Run 2 review, actually.
Love the game, hate the gems. It completely ruins the leaderboards... That said, I'm not overly upset about it because its not like I'd be at the top with 20M+ players.
Is it seriously different from the first game though? Once I'd maxed my multiplier I had little to spend my coins on, and eventually had hundreds of resurrection wings. My best run (20.2m) probably involved activating the wings more than twenty times, and I think I only died because I failed to activate them at the right time. The gems auto-save you but at a steeper cost.
All this said, I only really compare myself to my friends, who must be crushed, and not the general population.
Dont like temple run at all. Terrible game.
For the record I like pitfall and think it is a much better game.
I really liked Pitfall. It has a fun story with actual progression. The endless runner genre also feels like a good fit for the franchise, but its dependence on IAP to unlock checkpoints and continue really hurts the game.
IAP in TR2 on the other hand feels more balanced. The coin collection rate feels about right with the coin doubler. Enough so that any other IAP is not needed ( in HATE consumable IAP and refuse to buy it).
Pitfall deserves to be the better game, but fails due to poor monetization.
Devs, I would pay as much as $10 for a re-imaged Pitfall if IAP were completely removed.
I'm a fan of the gem acquisition addition. Granted, I don't pay attention to leaderboards (I don't even know how to view them), but as someone who wouldn't do the IAP option, it is is fun to acquire them in-game and then figure out my best use of said gem. Do I save up a bunch then build-up my power-ups? Do I continue a good run? So yeah. I'm a fan of the gems.
The leaderboards are a waste anyway with the top lot filled with cheaters. I think the gems are a good idea if you are trying to beat your top score but I don't pay for any of them. Once I'm out of them that's my game over.
Best ever
Temple Run...nice. Let's give 4.5/5 for a sleepy sequel, and give 1/5 for a FF game not to your taste or 2/5 for a Borderland just because it isn't your take on Borderlands game or 2/5 for a tech demo that pushes the mobile graphics boundary and features as much repetition in here.
Well a review is an opinion right? TA reviews are exactly that, one persons opinion. You are certainly entitled to yours as well. You should try to find a review site/reviewer that has tastes similar to yours. I don't always agree with TA either, but for the most part I enjoy reading the reviews. As for FF and the Borderlands reviews, I agree that they were not very good at all. But that's my opinion.
They are not only opinions as they are visible enough to hurt sells...
Well if a game has bad ratings or bad reviews, who's fault is that??? The reviewer or the dev? No sane person reviews a game with the sole intention of hurting sales. Why bother reviewing games at all... Lets just give out positive reviews to boost sales no matter how good or bad the game is. The only reason to complain about someone's review is because it doesn't fall in line with your personal feelings about the game.
The problem is when TA give a bad rating but customers gave good one il the App Store (or the contrary)
Minigore 2 come to my mind lately, very good store rating, only 3.5* TA because it was too much like the "previous one". Just like this game, but this one got 4.5...
So no, it's not "just an opinion" esecially when your site have a lot of readers.
It is an opinion. The App Store rating is an average right? That means some people gave it high ratings and some gave it low ratings. At 3.5, that means it has good and bad. Not all good. That also means that some of those people gave the same ratings as TA. Those ratings on the App Store are all individual opinions.
The original Temple Run got a 4.5 and this got the same score.
The original Minigore didn't get a star score because we didn't' do that at the time, but it likely would have been in the 3-3.5 range. It was a pretty middling review.
So I don't understand what you're trying to say. More of a good game is a good thing. More of a mediocre game is a... mediocre thing, I guess.
Borderlands and the FF game are both terrible IMO. But I'm intrigued by your point with dead trigger. They both have repetitive gameplay, so much it's unbearable, but Temple run 2 receives the better score.
You know, I didn't like the first one because of the graphics. But this one, man, the graphics are so much better and call me Mr. Graphics Snob but I like this version a lot!
Liking it a lot--my favorite behind-the-back runner. (Hope iCade support returns to TR though!
I like Agent Dash, Subway Surfers and Pitfall as well... probably others I'm forgetting... and I want to get back to Blood Roofs. But what makes a game great is subjective (you can't expect agreement) and doesn't come down to a checklist: Most Different Obstacles, or whatever. I can't put my finger on what made TR great, but whatever it is, TR2 builds on it to remain my favorite. (Note: I don't care about Leaderboards. Even if cheating were impossible, what % of people are even going to make it into the top 5%? I'm thinking 5% at most! The fun of a game better come from other sources! Like being a fun game.)
Blood Roofs: The most interesting endless runner on the AppStore
Personally I like this game less than the first one, but I appreciate the review and reasoning behind it. Perhaps I simply need to spend more time with the game but I feel that the curving landscape and draw-in makes it much more difficult to see obstacles. The simplicity of the first game resulted in your performance being due to skill and reflexes whereas I found myself taking unnecessary deaths repeatedly in TR2 because I just didn't realize I was about to hit an obstacle. Again, this can be overcome but it's not like the first game where I picked it up and was hooked immediately.
I agree that this is a reasonable upgrade of the original, but I think it should have lost at least another half-star for just how aggressively the game is tuned in favor of a more gouging version of IAP. Obviously buying gems is "unnecessary" to playing and enjoying the game, but being asked to use purchasable currency after every single run is annoying, and the $5 price for a coin doubler is downright ridiculous.
This game could've been so much more. With the Temple run brand they could've really done anything. But instead they chose the safe route which I don't agree with. The Game deserves two or three stars. Personally, I would reward innovation not lame incremental improvements.
Guess they made the right choice though since now they're millionaires again. And do they really need yet another feature on the front page? There are so many other games that are more deserving.
Jared you make a good point. They made a good game better and so the score is reflective of that. However I never liked the first game at all so I guess that's where I'm coming from. Also I don't think they did anything that hasn't already been done by clones. You would think they could at least come up with one original idea since they are one of the originators of the genre.
Ps
I'm still getting an error a lot of times when I try to post of these stories.
I think it is a great improvement on graphics
Nobody can beat me at this;)
love the game! really cool, play it with pleasure for hours!
I like playing this game, it is very addictive and full of surprises.
The graphics of Temple Run 2 is better than the old Temple Run.
Hey I love playing temple run 2 I would just like to say that I think I could make it better. When u get the run faster thing I think if u trip then u should get another chance because you got the run faster thing thanks
I don't know if I sent this once but it's not showing so I'm writing it again I think u could improve your temple run 2 because when u get faster and u hit something then the monster thing come chasing after u again I think u should get a second chance
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