Free For the iPhone #3

Endless runner fans, this week is your week.

First we have a side-scrolling, arcade-style runner from Rocketcat Games called Punch Quest. Released in late 2012, Punch Quest introduced a fun, fast-paced runner where you use nothing but your bare fists to beat the snot out of anything in your way. Your huge-armed hero runs through dungeons full of orcs, zombies, skeletons and other crazy monsters and takes them all on single-handedly. Along the way your hero will level up, regain health, and gain new abilities.

Rather than only asking you to beat your high score, Punch Quest gives you certain tasks to accomplish, such as beating so many bosses or achieving a certain level in one run. This gives the game a little more re-playability, especially once you get to that point where you know you’ll never be able to beat your highest score. You’re also rewarded with Punchos for each task you complete.

Punchos are the in-game currency that can be used to unlock abilities, passive perks, and cosmetics. Microtransactions are always an option if you fancy getting your Punchos a little faster, but so far I haven’t felt the need to do so. The game is very fair in its prices, and it doesn’t take long to acquire the amount of Punchos you need to unlock the abilities you want.

The game is fast-paced and sometimes things can get really chaotic. That makes this game extremely fun, especially when you’ve got your hero’s better abilities unlocked and enemies are exploding and hitting each other in crazy chain reactions. The game also gives you path choices now and then, allowing you to decide whether you want to fight a boss, ride a dinosaur, or go for some treasure. I love this element because it makes me feel like I’m going on my own adventure, rather than just running from point A to point death like other endless runners.

All-in-all, Punch Quest is extremely fun and re-playable. It’s definitely worth a download if you want to check it out.

Our second endless runner this week is a creepy, first-person runner by PikPok called Into the Dead. As you might have already guessed, Into the Dead requires you to run head-on into hordes after hordes of zombies.

Into the Dead was also released in late 2012, and was a refreshing addition to the endless runner category. As far as I know, it was the first runner to introduce FPS and survival elements. There is an entire arsenal of weapons available in the game, but each time you acquire a weapon, you’ve given a limited amount of ammo. The game has lots of fun weapons from chainsaws to miniguns.

As you run, the number of zombies you encounter become more and more, so it’s important to save your weapons for when you get into tight spots. Weapons are picked up from drop crates that can be found along the way. Sometimes they’re tough to get to, and it’s always a gamble. Do you risk brushing by a zombie to get to the crate, or do you carry on safely and wait for the next crate? These decisions make the game fun and challenging, especially at greater distances when zombies coat the horizon.

The in-game currency allows you to buy perks such as extra crates or starting out with a weapon. You’re given missions to complete and each accomplished mission rewards you with money. But the missions’ relevance doesn’t stop there. There are three game modes to unlock, and each mode requires you to complete a certain amount of missions before they can be played. Once you unlock all the game modes and weapons, the game gets extremely fun. Obviously, in-game currency means microtransactions. But again, it’s never outrageously difficult to get the amount of money you need to buy the next weapon (which can also be unlocked by completing missions) or skip a difficult mission.

Into the Dead is creepy, intense, and sounds amazing when playing with headphones. The advertisements are pretty annoying, but they’re not a deal-breaker.

These aren’t very new games, so you may have heard of them before. Whether you have or haven’t, they’re both very much worth a try.

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