Canabalt Review for iPhone and iPod Touch

Price: $2.99

Publisher: Semi Secret Games

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Be forewarned, Canabalt utilizes a single finger.  In this case, one finger is all you need to have a great time.   There is no real storyline, there are no complicated moves to perform; there is only a man on a mission to get as far away from the alien invaders as possible.  Running is your only option, jumping your only salvation (pretty dramatic, right?).

The gameplay revolves around your character running forward and jumping from building to building (or several additional objects) and trying to jump over obstacles that are in your way.  It certainly is a simple idea but its design is so slick that it makes you come back for more over and over again.  This game came out a while ago, before this site began, but in the last month has been updated, so it made sense for us to do a review to ensure our readers know about it.

The graphics are very nice.  The background art depicts a world in chaos and the urban setting only adds additional flavor to the setting.  The obstacles within the game are done extremely well.  Take care to listen to what is going on within the game to have a better idea of when a certain obstacle may appear.  In that way, sound is used in unison with the graphics and gameplay to great effect.  And when it comes to music, there is no comparison.  The game gives you two songs, both of which are completely amazing and fitting.  This game has the best music of any iPhone game I have ever played.

Of course as you get further along the road, the path gets more difficult.  More obstacles begin appearing and your heart starts racing to beat your old score.  The main thing here is that the world is different every time you load up a game.  There are no set instances of things happening.  This randomness keeps the world fresh and dynamic.  The game tracks you scores both locally and also on a network so that you can compare your score to others around the world.  My highest score is slightly above 5,000.  I was pretty proud of that score until I saw the world leader had hit about 50,000.  Jeez.

This game isn't for someone that needs a ton of buttons to push.  Also, the price is probably too high.  At $2.99, I would expect a few additional levels.  If you are lucky enough to find the game on sale for $1.99, buy it. You can add an entire star to my overall score at that price. To get a good idea if you would like the general gameplay, try out the free flash version of the game.  You can find that HERE.  Despite the price, when it comes to 2 or 3 minute time killers, Canabalt is one of the finest.  My only problem is that 2 or 3 minutes usually turns into 15-20 every time I play.

Overall Value for it's $2.99 price point

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