Mikey Jumps review

Despite their popularity on the App Store, I've never played one of BeaverTap Games's Mikey games until Mikey Jumps, their latest release. In this particular title, players control the jumps of an auto-running Mikey to get him through sets of micro-platforming stages. For the most part, the action in the game feels fast and fun, though it can wear thin a bit quickly.

When I say that each stage in Mikey Jumps is micro, I mean it. Every platforming section in the game fits within the width of your phone or tablet's screen. The challenge in Mikey Jumps is to complete 10 of these stages without dying too many times in order to save your progress and move on to the next set of stages.

The small level design has a hand in what makes the action in Mikey Jumps feel so frantic, but the fact that stages are loaded and started instantly after finishing the one before really gives the game its breakneck pace.

It doesn't take long in Mikey Jumps for you to start doing things besides just jumping. Sets of stages introduce new mechanics like flying and grappling to help keep the game feeling varied as you move through it.

Mikey Jumps isn't an endless runner, so you can really appreciate the intention behind the level design of the game, particularly when it comes to introducing and mixing new mechanics together.

As much as Mikey Jumps tries to vary up the experience, it's hard to see it as much more than the simple platformer it is. Every play session has you trying to perfect a series of stages that you might have to restart if you die too much, and this repetition can get a little tedious.

Mikey Jumps–being the free-to-play game that it is–offers to help players get through levels a little easier by offering purchases that provide extra lives, which does improve the experience. Not only does this purchase double your amount of lives, but it also gets rid of pop-up ads as well.

Mikey Jumps is a cool little game, but it probably won't blow you away. It offers up some fun micro-platforming that's fast and challenging, but nothing more than that.