Time Surfer review (iOS / Universal)

10 word description: Endless surfer. Unlockable characters, power-up pets and time rewind ability.

10 word review: Slick, fast, great looking. Score chasers will enjoy it most.

You will like this if you enjoy: Tiny Wings. Really, I have to say that because the basic gameplay and the control method are very similar.

The good news: High level of polish and very attractive graphics and effects. Music and sounds are also very good. Plenty of different characters and vehicles to unlock; all the objects and enemies are very pretty. Gameplay is simple enough with the now very familiar set of three missions adding some other objectives in addition to achieving the furthest distance. iCloud sync for unlocked characters, pets, etc.

The bad news: The pets are a nice idea but they chew through space cake (in game currency) so quickly that they tend to get in the way of cake collecting for the permanently unlockable characters and vehicles. The tendency is to keep running solo (no pet), which makes pet unlocks via mission completion a lot less satisfying than they could be. In some of the levels the gaps are so wide that you just know it’s going to be instant Game Over as soon as you see the graphics change.

Arcadelife verdict: Time Surfer is a fun and flashy addition to the endless genre on iOS, taking some inspiration from Tiny Wings and adding a lot of its own style as well as the very useful ability to rewind time. The pets, of which there are many, are restricted by their reliance on a constant diet of the in-game currency, resulting in their use and usefulness being rather dramatically reduced for anyone not prepared to take the IAP route. If you’re happy to make limited use of the pets, or you just love grinding on endless runners, this won’t be a problem.

Overall, an entertaining game with high production values, although some of those gaps really are just a little bit too wide to be a fun challenge!

Arcadelife rating

Presentation – 9/10
Visuals – 9/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 8/10
Fun – 7/10
Final rating – 8/10

VERY GOOD

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.1

Time Surfer website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 6.0.1)
4th gen iPad (iOS 6.0.1)