Escape From Age Of Monsters HD Review

Despite the name, Escape from Age of Monsters is nothing like Age of Monsters. Stepping away from the rock, paper, scissors motif, Escape from Age of Monsters uses the wonderful hand-drawn art and animations to create an entertaining endless runner. There may be slight elements of style over substance but at this price, it's hard to complain.

Players take the role of Gizzard, a hero who must run through numerous buildings, fending off slug monsters while protecting orphan children. These orphan children are the game's equivalents of lives. Turning lives in a game into animated children somehow makes the risk of death that bit more important.

Much of the action requires tapping buttons at the right time, as is frequently the way with the genre. In this case, red or blue walls. It's not quite the most fascinating of obstacles, but at least things are mixed up with the prospect of flying monsters of the same colors. Whatever the obstacle, players will find themselves too busy keeping up with the game. There's a gentle learning curve but things soon become quite frantic. There's also the possibility of hitting the walls at just the right moment, invoking a perfect move. Complete three perfect moves and Turbo mode activates, meaning more points and faster speed for a time.

Elsewhere are power-ups and bonus items that can be acquired by slashing across them with one finger, while they drift past the screen. It's simple to do but can require some pretty precise timing in later stages. It ensures that points increase fast so it's worth doing.

Boss stages at the end of certain buildings require frantic tapping of the screen to gain the most points. Compared to the rest of the game, it's very easy to do, so I'd have preferred to see something a bit more complex.

Like so many other Endless Runners, Escape from Age of Monsters encourages repeated sessions through a huge number of Game Center achievements (over 60) and also objectives that are offered at regular points in the game. It quickly inspires players to have 'just one more go'.

Slipping and sliding around areas is more fun than smashing walls down, but Escape from Age of Monsters makes up for any potential tedium with its beautiful art style and varied selection of power-ups. It's a fun ride that will keep players coming back for more for a while to come.