Transworld Endless Skater

Sometimes you don't need that much to have a good time. Transworld Endless Skater might keep some of its content behind pretty high currency barriers, but what it does let you have verges on the sublime.

It's auto-running lane-based skateboarding, and that sounds horrid. But it's actually really good, and mixes together a whole bunch of ideas to create a casual skating experience that's painfully easy to get addicted to.

It's simple to pick up, fast-paced, and offers enough fun in its short-spurt flipping and grinding runs that you'll keep coming back for more.

The controls are occasionally a little suspect, and things do get a little repetitive when you're skating through the same level over and over again, but there's still an awful lot to like here.

You control a skater. There's only one to pick from to start with, but there are digital representations of some famous pros to unlock as you play.

Once you've tapped to start you automatically roll down a three-laned level. Swiping a thumb on one section of the screen lets you swap between lanes.

Swiping on another chunk of screen performs grab tricks. Flips and grinds are performed in a similar manner. Tilting your device left or right spins you in that direction.

There are a variety of obstacles littering each level. These change position each time you play, but the sets remain the same. That ramp to stair grind to step flip out might not be where it was last time, but it'll be there somewhere.

There are plenty of challenges to complete as you play too. These might be as simple as scoring a set number of points, or as complex as pulling a specific trick over a specific gap.

There's also a score chasing meta game that sets you a score to get past as you roll. Beat it and it goes up. In classic Tony Hawk style the tricks you use are worth less the more you use them, so you need to mix things up if you want to keep hitting the scores.

Each run earns you coins. You use these to upgrade your slater, learn new tricks, buy and upgrade power-ups, and purchase new levels.

The four power-ups are scattered around the levels as you unlock them. One slows down time, one adds extra time to your run, one ups your stats for a spell, and the other gives you a score multiplier.

Some of the prices are a little on the steep side though, meaning you'll either have to flip and grab until your fingers are sore or cough up a little cash if you want to get the other skaters and different levels faster.

That's not to say there isn't an incredible amount of fun to have with what the game gives you to start off with. This is pure, exciting arcade skating, and it works pretty damn well on touchscreen.

Sometimes your finger or thumb slips from one area to another at a vital moment, and the tilt-to-spin controls take a bit of getting used to, but once things start to click you'll find yourself spending whole runs scoring huge points combos.

There's a great pop punk soundtrack, and the game looks really good as well. It might be a little limited if you're not willing to fork out some cash, but as long as you can get past its repetitive nature, Transworld Endless Skater is well worth a good chunk of your time.