Galaxy Run – iOS Review

I’ve mentioned Galaxy Run a couple of times now, and as if by magic, a promo code to try it for free turned up in my email box.  Huzzah, free stuff! Don’t get me wrong, Galaxy Run is not exactly expensive even for an iOS app, running at around 69p I think, but that’s not the point. Free stuff is free stuff, and ergo worth a review.

In short, you have to guide Rez (a space-suited gentleman) from his starting point into the portal at a different part of the screen, avoiding the dangerous pits and weird metal things that some careless individual has put in Rez’s way. That, my dears, is as complex as the game play gets.

However, you have to admire the wonderfully simple control method. Some games want you to tilt your device, push buttons, use two virtual joysticks where your fingers inevitably move off leaving your character sitting-duck motionless. Galaxy Run’s control method relies on one thing, your finger. Press the screen once to set Rez running forward, pressing the screen again will make Rez jump. Double-pressing the screen will make Rez double jump and so on. That’s it, set Rez running and make him jump over the obstacles with well-timed screen presses.

Up to three lights show your success with each level. If you complete the level in your first try, you are awarded three lights, do it on your second try as you get two lights and so on. If you’re struggling to complete a level, then there are a number of power-ups you can use to help tilt the balance in your favour. For example, there’s one power-up that slows down time, making timing Rez’s jumps a lot easier.

The game is split into 6 different stages, although you can only access the first three now, each consisting of 15 levels; Deep Space (Perseus), Desert Planet (Drak-Nok) and Blue World (Aquarian). Complete those levels and gain enough points, and you unlock five extreme levels, plus the next stage with another 15 levels filled with more running and jumping goodness.

They are already in the process of creating some more levels for Rez to explore, as well as a level editor so you can create your own levels and worlds and share them with the Galaxy Run community.

As with a lot of other mobile games, Galaxy Run is a difficult game to review. At least, it is for me. It covers all the bases that a mobile game should cover. The visuals are crisp. The animation is ok, not awesome, but it’s exactly what’s required. The control method is simple and reactive etc.

As with a lot of other mobile games, the nub is how addictive it is. Every game designer wants a game like Candy Crush, or Words with Friends under their belt, maybe this will be Spiel Studios’, though it doesn’t feel like it.

I don’t mean to sound harsh, and whether Galaxy Run will survive the test of both time and gamers fickle attention spans is not really an issue. What Spiel Studios has released is a nice looking, and easily pick-upable single-screen runner game for iOS devices. It lives up to everything it claims, and maybe that’s all that counts.

If you want to download Galaxy Run for yourselves, you can download it here, from the Apple store.