Adventure Time: Super Jumping Finn

It's hard to pin down exactly what Adventure Time: Super Jumping Finn is.

In a way, its closest relative in recent times is the interesting but flawed action-racing game Earn to Die. Both measure your success in increments, awarding you cash or stars so you can inch further towards your goal the next time around.

Where Earn to Die was staid, however, Adventure Time: Super Jumping Finn is flamboyant, based as it is on the successful Cartoon Network show Adventure Time.

But, it's still stuck in the same cycle of slog as Earn to Die. And while the colours and cast might distract you for a while, eventually the random nature of the gameplay becomes too much to bear.

The game is all about being kicked from behind by a dog. You play Finn, the star of the show, who has to rescue a princess from the clutches of the evil Ice King. Unfortunately, the only way Finn can reach the Ice King's lair is by letting his trusty dog Jake give him a boot.

Each attempt at reaching the Ice King's fortress, then, begins with Finn presenting his posterior for a whacking. You tap on the screen to bring up a power meter, and tap again when it's full. From there, you're thrown into the sky, where a variety of helpful implements and characters wait to carry you farther.

By landing on the Rainicorn, for example, you can hammer the screen to get a boost for a while. Hitting Marceline and her guitar, meanwhile, gets you a thwack in the right direction. Jake can also jump up and kick you, but he'll need to recharge after every mighty punt.

And while flocks of birds will carry you if you tap on them, airborne penguins are your mortal enemies. A single touch from one of the latter will result in your being frozen into a gravitationally challenged block of ice.

In Adventure Time: Super Jumping Finn, there are challenges to complete and stars to earn. You can spend these stars on upgrading your dog and your boosts.

The problem is that the position of all of these objects is entirely random. It's perfectly possible to propel Finn forward with a sublimely powerful thwack, only for him to miss everything and plop unceremoniously onto the floor.

There's little skill involved here, and while fans of the show will doubtless enjoy the references dotted throughout the game, there's just not enough content or excitement in this TV tie-in to keep anyone else interested for particularly long.

Note: This game is currently only available on the App Store in the United States.

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