Looking for a game you can play in very short bursts? Well, this is one of them

This is a runner. After picking a level and one of two playable characters, you’re sent hurtling through the stages automatically, and the only control you have is where to move on an invisible 3x3 grid in an attempt to avoid the hazards and collect the coins and jewels. To move to a specific space on the grid, you either hold the circle pad in that direction or hold the face buttons in that direction; letting go returns you to the center. The more coins and jewels you collect without taking damage, the higher your score multiplier increases, and the faster the level gets. Get hit even once, and you lose that score multiplier and a bit of health (though the level does slow down). However, you can often find shield items in the levels that let you take a hit without the aforementioned effects happening. Also, once per stage, the character you don’t pick will fly in and give you a super power-up which will cause you to charge forward really fast, defeating all enemies and collecting all coins in your way until it runs out.

There isn’t much that can be said about this game other than it’s really short. There’s a practice stage and 10 levels, and each one will only take a couple minutes to beat on a successful run (though dying means you have to start the stage from the beginning). The speed can be hectic sometimes, but it never really gets challenging until the final stage, which is where I first died. Each stage usually introduces one new enemy type, so the game has more variety than a few of the more ambitious titles I’ve played. My least favorite part of the game are the whirlwinds: they send you forward and knock out any enemies you hit for the next second, but you can’t adjust your position if you hit one, so even if you see a jewel, the game won’t let you get it. Speaking of the jewels, sometimes, the jewel is the same color as the background, meaning you won’t notice it until it’s too late. There are also achievements, so that will be a bonus for completionists.

With that said, even if you’re just a casual fan of runners, I’d say this is worth the one dollar asking price; just keep in mind that it’s only really worth it if you find that you only have a couple minutes to play games because this is one you can burn through quickly.