Walkthroughs

How to shock the monkeys: Hints, tips, and tricks for Temple Run on iPhone

Don't look back

How to shock the monkeys: Hints, tips, and tricks for Temple Run on iPhone
|
| Temple Run

If you play games on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you'll probably have stumbled across an endless-running title.

The App Store is littered with them, after all.

If you have, you'll already know that they can be particularly tricky, especially as you sprint farther and farther and the action gets quicker and quicker.

Your aim in Temple Run is to snatch a golden idol, navigate crumbling ruins, avoid obstacles and bloodthirsty monkeys, collect coins, complete objectives, and survive for as long as you possibly can.

The basics

You turn corners, jump obstacles, and slide under hazards in this endless-runner by swiping your device's screen, and collect coins with tilts of your handheld.

The coins you collect as you sprint around the aforementioned ruins can be spent in the in-game store on a range of different power-ups and characters, as well as single-use utilities and wallpapers.

Finally, Temple Run tasks you completing various 'objectives', such as collecting 250 coins or scoring 50,000 points. More on these a bit later.

Getting a sweat on



Like the majority of endless-running titles, your quest for survival starts with a slow jog. This soon turns into a brisk run and a frantic sprint as you travel farther and farther through the game's dilapidated ruins.

Resist the urge to frantically strike your touchscreen as the action begins to heat up and the game's protagonist begins to accelerate. You're less likely to make mistakes if you stay calm.

Furthermore, don't wait until the last second to swipe your device left or right to navigate a corner: slash your screen a split-second before you reach each turn to ensure you actually make it in time.

If you're on a bit of a roll and the action is pretty fast paced, you can slow yourself down by purposely tripping on an obstacle. Naturally, the easiest way to achieve this is to run straight into the low-hanging tree roots that you'll have no doubt jumped over many times.

Swiping to turn when there isn't a corner will also result in the same effect, but ensure you're not running through a wallless section of the ruins - you'll just plummet to your death.

Remember: If you trip twice in quick succession, you'll be savagely eaten by the angry monkeys on your tail. Take that little nugget into account before you attempt the above tactic.

Finally, you can slow down the action for a very limited time by deliberately dying. Well, providing you've enabled the Angel Wings utility, that is.

Said utility will resurrect you and allow you to continue your jaunt at a reduced pace for a short time. It's best to use this tactic around the 5,000m point.

Extra power

As already mentioned, the coins you collect as you play can be spent on power-ups, utilities, new characters, and wallpapers.

Don't worry about the latter two at first: new characters don't offer any benefits and the game's range of wallpapers don't provide any advantages.

Instead, first focus on upgrading your 'coin magnet' and 'coin value' skills - both of which will result in your earning more moolah every time you play. The invisibility power-up is also worth spending some cash on.

Furthermore, the boost power-up is worthy of your attention. This sends Temple Run into auto-pilot mode, meaning you only have to worry about tilting your device to collect coins.

Next, spend all of that extra cash on the Angel Wings utility, which gives you a second chance at life should you accidentally meet a sticky end.

The Angel Wings power-up only lasts for 30 seconds once you've activated it by double-tapping on your device's screen.

Remember: You can use more than one Angel Wings utility in a single session, but only every 1,000m. In other words, use this utility, and you'll have to survive for at least another 1,000m without its aid before you can use it again.

Other things to think about

Although coins are important for purchasing power-ups and other goodies, they aren't the be all and end all, especially if you're focusing more on achieving a high score - you should prioritise one task, in other words.

You'll still collect plenty of coins accidentally on your travels, anyway.

Similarly, either focus on completing objectives or on gaining a high score - don't attempt to do both at the same time. This is likely to lead to an early demise.

Anthony Usher
Anthony Usher
Anthony is a Liverpool, UK-based writer who fell in love with gaming while playing Super Mario World on his SNES back in the early '90s. When he isn't busy grooming his beard, you can find him replaying Resident Evil or Final Fantasy VII for the umpteenth time. Aside from gaming, Anthony likes hiking, MMA, and pretending he’s a Viking.