Developer: Bee Square
Price: FREE
Version: 1.01
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5
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Overall Rating:

Sheldon has been enjoying a peaceful life ever since he bested that uppity hare in a race. The hare, on the other hand, has been resenting him for years. Of course since turtles typically live longer than most other animals, Sheldon is still in his prime while the hare is an argyle blanket-sporting grandfather. So no revenge for him. Or maybe not. He is a rabbit, after all, and he does have plenty of impressionable offspring.

Run Sheldon! is an endless runner with a theme: rabbits. Angry rabbits. The scornful bunnies have dog piled (no offense) on the poor turtle in an attempt to snatch his first place trophy. Sheldon, and by extension the player, have to make a break for it and try to put as much distance between themselves and the hares as possible. This is a single-tap runner through and through. There are obstacles and rogue bunnies to avoid, coins and power-ups to grab, and a number of varied environments to book it through.

There’s a surprising amount of variety to be found in Run Sheldon! despite its simple runner mechanics. As I’ve mentioned already there are a fair number of environments to behold, but there are also a bunch of different power-ups to mix things up. Some allow Sheldon to fly, others protect him from harm, but they all change up the formula quite effectively one they’re in play. I was also impressed with the enemy bunny variety. There aren’t necessarily a ton of them, but having to deal with running/jumping/tunneling rabbits really keeps players on their toes.

Even with a decent amount of variety it might still be tough for Run Sheldon! to stand out in a sea of runners on the App Store. The colorful storybook style visuals certainly help but it’s not exactly an unpopular genre. But that’s just me being overly-critical. On a less overly-critical note I’ve found that sometimes it can be difficult to judge jumps accurately both due to Sheldon’s somewhat sluggish jumping (maybe because he’s a turtle?) and some very rigid hit detection. Landing on a rabbit’s noggin will send it packing but running into the top of its head with an ill-timed and misjudged jump will make Sheldon go “poof” instead. It’s a situation that happens a bit more often than I’d like.

Run Sheldon! might not be pushing boundaries but it does provide a respectable amount of variety in an otherwise “me, too” genre. It’s good, clean running fun with a lighthearted story and theme to match. Just don’t expect another Canabalt.