Temple Run 2 Review

Temple Run was an instant hit at launch. It was a pioneer in the runner’s class of mobile games and sparked a new era in the industry. Developers have cashed in on the craze and since then we’ve seen scores of games designed around this theme. Disney and Imangi even launched a special edition of the game called Temple Run Brave for their animated movie Brave. The idea was the same, but they threw in a few more challenges, of course, as you play Princess Merida (updated version lets you run as King Fergus as well), the lead character trying to outrun Mordu the demon bear through the forest. 

Temple Run 2 brings a fresh look to the game and tries to keep things just as entertaining as the first edition. Here’s a closer look. 

Obstacles look similar but with a few new twists

Sticking to the standard principle of the runner game style, Temple Run 2 once again sees an intrepid explorer scurrying from a cave being chased by some sort of demonic ape. The game starts off at an easy pace as usual and naturally picks speed the further you run. Collect coins and power-ups as you run, slide, jump and rail down a tunnel to avoid a host of obstacles in your path. Trip up and the big bad ape will be hot on your heels. Just like its predecessors, Temple Run 2 is quite addictive. 

Using the device's Gyro and accelerometer, you can dodge obstacles by tilting your device to the left or right. Swipe gestures are still one of the key factors, and so is collecting gold coins. 

What makes this version so much more entertaining, even if it is essentially the same as the ones before, is the new environment. The murky swamp locale has now given way to a more picturesque mountain path. You’ll need to slide down ropes while swinging either to the left or right to collect coins, jump across streams, across broken wooden bridges, over temple ruins and even over spiked booby traps. For slide moves, you’ll need to slip under ruins and fire traps. Then you get to a rather interesting part in the game after a few thousand metres – a mine shaft. 

Watch out for those power-ups and tricky miner levels

In this level, you’ll be riding along a beaten down track into a mine in a beaten down mine cart. You’ll need to duck and lean to collect coins or avoid obstacles and broken train tracks. Unlike some of the other games in this category, you’ll also need to swipe left or right down the right track. The wrong turn could lead you smackdab into a closed off shaft. 

What’s great about this game is that resurrection is quite easily available at least once without the need to buy or upgrade some factor for your character. Upgrades are available nonetheless from boosting the time limit on various options like the magnetic capture of coins or gaining protective shields, speed boosts etc. With 10,000 coins, you can even choose a new character to run. 

Upgrade your existing character or simply choose a new one

The more you progress, as you may already know, the faster your pace gets. This is when things tend to get really tricky. There are a few instances where the road might look like it would go straight ahead, but you'd need to swipe left or right—and since the game is quite unpredictable, we can't really say where. This is possibly one of the more challenging parts of the game, especially if you've progressed far into the game and running around a break-neck speed.

The bottom line

All in all, Temple Run 2 is a well-designed game. The new location adds that fresh appeal to an existing franchise that was already entreating to begin with. We found no issues with control when we tested it on the iPad 2 and Galaxy Nexus devices. The game worked great and was very responsive on both platforms. Best part is, it’s free for both as well. If you’re into runner mobile game genre and were already hooked on Temple Run, part 2 will only make things better. We’re quite looking forward to part 3 (fingers crossed).

To download Temple Run 2 for Android go here.

To download Temple Run 2 for iOS go here.