Endless runners are wonderful mobile games. You run, usually jump, and sometimes smash through things, all the while collecting some form of currency. Jetpack Joyride was my first endless runner and I ended up spending a lot of time with it. Since then, I’ve tried a variety of these simple games, thinking one will hook me like Jetpack Joyride did a few years ago, but none have stuck around on my phone for more than a few days. The one game to have the potential to do so should have been Marvel Run! Jump! Smash!. Key word – should.
Marvel Run! Jump! Smash! is an endless runner skinned with, you guessed it, Marvel characters. Like most apps these days, there are also in-app purchases, but that’s after the $0.99 USD admission fee. The price tag, no matter how low it seemed, made me a little leary. But I’m a big Marvel fan, so I bit. At the very least,I expected to get a few good days of enjoyment out of it. While I did play it for more than a few days, there was little enjoyment.
The main character is actually just a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, with the Marvel hero’s coming in by picking up tokens through the level. The token activates the hero, who smashes onto the screen, but expires after a set amount of time (or by dying). Each of the available hero’s has their own method of movement, such as Iron Man flying, or Black Widow double-jumping. They also each have their own attack, and special attack, though special attacks are rare.
There are obstacles aplenty,, but it doesn’t take much effort to make it past the first section. Collecting coins adds to your score, which I then got a fraction of those coins to spend after I had died. Why they had to make coins the collectible item, I have no idea. It led me to believe I was collecting that many coins for spending purposes, and once I found out how the purchase system, I was irritated with this little notion of trickery.
More heroes can be purchased, but it will take a LOT of time to unlock them. Or extra cash. Quite a bit of extra cash, really. Since I already dumped a dollar on the game, I would have expected them to go a LITTLE easier on the unlocks. It’s more of an understandable situation when a game is free, and while a dollar isn’t much more than free, it is still something I should feel compensated for..
There’s no substance to Marvel Run! Jump! Smash! to set it apart from other endless runners. It has a Marvel coat of paint, but that’s not enough to make it worth someone’s time, even if on a casual basis. I have left the app on my phone but haven’t touched it since release a few weeks ago. I’m hoping for an update to make this the game it has the potential to be. Until then, back to Marvel Puzzle Quest for me.
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