Tl;dr – if you like temple-run style arcade games, you’ll probably like this. However, it is hard. Like, legitimately hard. If you aren't in to being challenged, don't pick it up. The controls are easy to use and incredibly responsive, and there’s even a boost that makes you move faster for anyone who loves speed. There’s a decent amount of replayability that comes from the leaderboards and achievements, as well as the 5 different modes available, so if you’re in to any of that you’ll likely have a good time with this game. There’s also great aesthetics, and some amazing music.
Here is a first impression video and a quick 2 minute “summary” video, followed by a written review below:
First Impressions: http://youtu.be/70PllPUbGtM
2 min video: http://youtu.be/PPwElfxrY64
In this game you follow a procedurally generated track, which means that it's more about reflexes as opposed to learning tracks. As time goes on, the track will get increasingly more difficult, throwing more turns and hazards at you that must be dealt with. When it comes down to it, the controls are fairly simple. You have turn left, turn right, jump, dodge and boost. While jumping and dodging are used to avoid hazards, boost will make you move at a much faster rate, but gain a higher score multiplier. There are also special 'speed boost areas' that will move you at a speed comparable to that when using the manual speed boost, but will either give you a straight section with more frequent hazards, or one with no hazards but a ton of turns.
So I mentioned above that the controls are responsive, and that’s no joke. One thing I noticed is that if you make a mistake, it is entirely possible to fix it. Hell, if you’re fast enough, you can do things like turning right 3 times instead of turning left – you have that degree of control, which is great when it comes to a game as fast paced as this one.
Having said that, being precise is incredibly important in this game. Mistiming a dodge or jump will be the end of you, and there is little room for error, particularly when it comes to dodging the taller hazard. However, the game does feel very fair, and when you die it’s because you messed up, not because the game did.
There’s a degree of replayability due to the leaderboards, as well as the achievements. Through completing achievements you can actually unlock alternate ships to play as, which aside from the most difficult to unlock won’t actually alter gameplay, but some do look pretty cool. Also on the note of replayability there are 5 different modes that change up the rules a little, so there is that bit of variety. The first 3 modes (Training, Hard and Pro) seem like 3 difficulty levels that ramp up, where as the other 2, Speedfreak and Paranoid, seem like a bonus.
The way it works is that in Training, the camera follows in a sort of zoomed out third person view, and there are no hazards. In Hard, the camera follows at the same angle, but hazards are added. Pro changes the camera angle up - it gives you more of a top-down view and doesn't turn when you do, meaning you do need to think about which way the ship is facing when you make turns. Speedfreak is a mode made up entirely of those two special speed boost sections I mentioned earlier, just one after the other. Paranoid on the other hand takes the top-down camera angle, but changes the hazards up a bit. Instead of just having just yellow hazards that must be avoided, purple hazards are added in to the mix, which you must run into, and if you miss one, your run is over.
Aesthetically, this game is very well done. The background looks great, but doesn’t draw too much attention from the things in the foreground, which are clearly displayed and look pretty nice themselves. Also, Goscurry has some amazing music, which is good because as far as I could tell the music was involved in the procedural generation of the track itself, so listening to it can actually help out with the timing of your actions. Also, if you don’t like a song you can just skip it, which is a very nice addition since it does give you that control over what you’re listening to.
The final thing to mention is the price point. Some may consider this to be a bit expensive for what it is – personally, I think it’s absolutely fine because of the time I’ll get out of it, but I would understand if people thought it was a bit much.
Just one tip for anyone who picks this up: I found it a bit hard using down as my evade key, and would frequently get mixed up when trying to turn or jump and then evade immediately afterwards. Thankfully all controls are fully rebindable, so I ended up rebinding it to a lone key used by my other hand and it was much easier.
Anyway, fantastic game, lots of fun and if you’re into this genre, I highly recommend it!
