Critical Play: Theme Only Games

Race Games

I played two games within the race category: Tiny Wings and Temple Run. Overall, both of these games have a similar objective: the player must last as long as they can. Each game, however, utilizes different themes mechanics to make their experience fun and unique from each other.

Tiny Wings

In Tiny Wings, the player controls a bird who is trying to traverse as many islands as possible, before nightfall hits (the game ends if that happens). The primary mechanic in the game is for the player to tap and hold the screen, which allows the bird to dive down and utilize hills, which give the bird more momentum to fly even longer. Given the theme of this game, I didn’t feel much urgency, and I had an enjoyable time floating in the air and then seeing how much momentum I could generate from the hills before shooting back up into the sky. Only till the end did I feel a sense of futility, given it became incredibly more difficult to collect more sunlight.

Temple Run

In Temple Run, the player controls an explorer who recently stole a precious idol (that’s how you start playing the game) and must run away from ghouls, while avoiding traps and pitfalls for as long as they can. The player has a wider range of controls to avoid all the obstacles that come in their way. This includes, jumping, ducking, as well as turning left and right. I felt a greater sense of urgency this game. This could be because of the different controls (it required more concentration) as well as the animation of the runner and the initial ghouls. Moreover, the game increases its difficulty by increasing the speed of the runner, which is much different than what Tiny Wings did.