Save Them All

You know that you're spoiled for choice when the phrase 'post-apocalyptic endless-runner' sounds boring.

The problem is that this allegedly shocking type of game has been done before - both on foot and in a car - and the results, while fun, were not the super-intense madcap romps that they promised to be.

Save Them All looks to shoot past earlier games of this ilk and claim the glorious title of Most Zombie-tastic Post Apocalyptic Endless-Runner on the App Store.

Will it break the tape, or does it stumble off the blocks?

Save Them All plays almost exactly like the venerable Canabalt, albeit with a serious graphical overhaul and some zombies and nukes thrown in for good measure.

You dash across the rooftops of a crumbling civilisation with no control over your character's speed or direction. All you can do is jump or perform a combination groundpound/forcefield manoeuvre that's capable of destroying an incoming nuclear missile.

At first, the levels of Save Them All are basic run-and-jump affairs, but later story missions introduce goals like 'outrun a crumbling building' and 'punch a super zombie' to add a bit of variety to the gameplay and give the 'action' button some use.

Save Them All looks gorgeous, with graphics that are at once retro and gorgeously rendered. The only issue with the visual design is that it's often too busy.

This becomes a serious problem when you're looking for thermal updrafts that you need for extra-long jumps. These swirling nimbi of paper and wind are often lost in the exploding volcanoes in the background or the simulated lens-flare from the setting sun.

Thankfully, Save Them All makes up for the busy graphics by giving you some rather nice audio options: you can either enjoy the game's bog standard action soundtrack or create your own custom playlist from your iTunes music.

Save Them All is enjoyable, but rarely compelling. It's challenging, certainly, but you're unlikely to feel a major investment in the game itself, because it doesn't have a particularly interest story and it's not very original.

Thankfully, Gamepeons has anticipated this eventuality and woven an interesting mechanic into the game's leaderboards that blurs the line between the game and the real world.

Every 24 hours, the leaderboards for Save Them All reset in a simulation of the end of the world.

Thus, every day in the real world is a new chance to re-establish your personal best score and perfect your long-distance running, as you really do only have 24 hours to save them all.

Like Canabalt before it, Save Them All is a fun arcade-style game that's perfect for short, snack-sized play sessions. Its additions to the genre are fairly minimal, but it proudly grabs the torch of endless-running and, well, runs with it.