Monsu Review

All too often, endless runners lack some much-needed personality. They can be mechanically sound and still quite satisfying to play, but they rarely feel particularly charming. Monsu aims to buck that trend, even despite the fact it doesn’t really offer much of a story.

All you need to know is that you’re attempting to retrieve treasure from thieving villagers. This ties into your reasoning for running wild and bouncing on the heads of spear wielding enemies. You automatically run, with one tap for a single jump and two for a double-jump. Controls are simple yet tight; not once was there a sign of unresponsiveness.

Each session can last a reasonable length of time, which is useful given that you’re restricted by an energy meter. Every stage offers you a mission to complete, such as taking out a set number of enemies or picking up a particular power-up. They’re often quite simple, with the only frustration stemming from waiting it out for a power-up to show up. Along the way, you can pick up golden diamonds to use to spend elsewhere. These are pretty generously doled out, which is handy given there’s a wealth of things to purchase.

This is where Monsu’s ace in the hole shines through. There are a ton of cards to collect, each offering you a bonus or advantage in some form. They’re fun to collect and each can be upgraded to be even more effective. You can also combine them to evolve them into something even better, providing you’ve leveled them up sufficiently. It’s a cool touch and easily provides that ‘one more go’ mentality that works so well at keeping you playing.

It’s going to take a while to collect all of those cards and the energy meter means it’ll be slower going, so it would have been great if there’d been a way to bypass it permanently, however that doesn’t detract too much from how much fun I had with Monsu. Sure, it might be a fairly typical endless runner/platformer under the surface, but it’s a well-made one that knows exactly what makes you tick.