BTEC Media Studies Jun.2014 | Page 5

TOP FREE APPS

reviews

3

The number drops off after that point, but all of the figures are still impressive.

After the first week, 81 percent of players are still coming back to Subway Surfers, and after a full 30 days, 60 percent of players are still gaming. Via content updates including "Subway Surfers Rio" and "Subway Surfers Rome" players have plenty of reasons to keep running and dodging trains, as new characters and environments keep the game feeling fresh, rather than allowing it to get boring. This translates into the most impressive figure of all, as Subway Surfers currently pulls in 25 million players each day.

Subway Surfers is a nail biting Temple Run-style game where you initially take the role of Jake, a graffiti artist who likes to tag trains. He is immediately spotted and needs to run from the Inspector and his dog. He will chase you over trains, through sidings, over barriers and carriages in a really exciting ‘dodge-oncoming-trains-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth action‘! It definitely sounds a lot like Temple Run on the surface, but the big difference is that there are three columns to run on. The means you start in the middle, and can swipe to run on the left, right, or back in the middle. You can keep jumping between the columns to dodge trains and collect coins. It makes for a much more action packed and engaging game that feels completely new on iOS. As you’re running along, the trains begin to move, and you can jump up on top of, and between the roofs of trains. There’s never a dull moment as you’re given more to do, and the environment is always changing which requires quick thinking and action to run through, above, and around.

More on the IAP, there is an in-game store where you can buy items and power-ups to help you - using your hard earned coins, or you could straight up buy them through the Google Play store. There are three amounts of coins you can buy with real money, 7500 coins for 99c, 45000 coins for 4.99 and 180000 coins for 19.99. Using your in-game coins you can buy, a two levels of head starts - the more expensive one allows you to have a greater head start and a pass to skip the 1st mission. You can also upgrade your Jetpack, Super Sneakers, Coin Magnet and the 2X multiplier. It's a feature that ends up being more useful than you think.

At the beginning of Subway Surfers, you have one character: Jake - from the behind-the-back, 3rd-person perspective. You can control Jake using a few gestures. Swiping left-to-right controls which lane you jump between, swiping upward makes Jake jump, a downward swipe makes Jake do a tumble roll - to slide under objects, and there's the double-tap, which allows Jake to use his hoverboard - which makes him invincible for a short period of time. If you swipe into a train or a wall, the inspector and his dog will get closer to you and if you make a bad swipe from there, it's all over. He catches you and you're sent back to your starting position. This may sound aggravating on paper, but in practice it's actually a nice touch to be able to make a mistake before being caught. Or getting hit by a train, your choice.

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will get closer to you and if you make a bad swipe from there, it's all over. He catches you and you're sent back to your starting position. This may sound aggravating on paper, but in practice it's actually a nice touch to be able to make a mistake before being caught. Or getting hit by a train, your choice.

The Inspector is the main antagonist in the game. In the beginning of every game, he and his dog will look for trespassers around the subway. Whenever he would catch a character writing graffiti on one of the trains, he would chase him/her down the tracks until that character has ran into a train, barrier, pole, etc. If the character has only bumped into an obstacle, the inspector will appear on the screen, gaining on him/her; if the character crashes into an obstacle, he/she will be caught by the inspector, ending their run.