Faily Tumbler review - A clumsy fall through the Stone Age

Phil Faily's misguided adventures continue as we travel back in time to the Stone Age to meet some of his ancestors.

Phil's great-great-great-great-great, etc. grandfather climbs a volcano on the hunt for some tasty eggs, but the volcano erupts, sending him tumbling. It's up to you to keep him falling endlessly as you collect coins and eggs.

Faily Tumbler takes the the post-crash mayhem from previous entries in the series, allowing you to ragdoll through various environments.

It's pretty much par for the course, so if you enjoyed past Faily titles, you'll likely get a kick out of Faily Tumbler. Otherwise, it's yet another endless arcade runner that will be easily forgotten.

Taking a tumble

You'll guide ancient Faily as he tumbles through the jungle by tapping the right side of the screen to scoop up coins, collect a glider that helps you zoom away from the lava licking at your heels, and veer away from spikes, whirlpools, and other traps.

You can hold both sides of the screen to tuck Phil's shaggy-haired relative into a somersault and send him gliding for longer distances.

Our troubled protagonist flip-flops all over the place while tumbling at rapid speed, so the controls are naturally a little wonky.

The goofy controls add to the game's innate slapstick humor as he flops helplessly against trees and rocks.

Once you acclimate to Faily Tumbler’s general silliness, you can start focusing on collecting coins, eggs, and gliders.

You invest coins to improve your Faily's survivability - improved controls, gliding times, and the like. Eggs unlock silly costumes and coins, and gliders help you sail over the deadly challenges that await you below.

Ultimately, though, there's not a whole lot to Faily Tumbler. I can see this appealing mainly to children, who will probably find Phil's plight absolutely hilarious as he grunts and screams his way through the level.

The option to race against yourself and share replays online adds to the fun. The game looks pretty enough, too, with lush tropical environments and sizzling lava flows.

That said, there's little variety in the environments you tumble through, and the wonky controls make it difficult to collect enough coins for upgrades.

It's another endless runner that's fun at first, but that fun fizzles out quickly and you'll go searching for the next distraction pretty quickly.

Faily Tumbler is entertaining in short bursts, though its main audience seems to be younger children.

It's not a bad game, but we've seen titles like this before. Faily Tumbler stands out because it follows in a line of popular games on a similar theme. A lack of variety and frustrating controls will see you turning to other mobile gaming pursuits in too short a space of time though.