Battle Rush

There's an old video game theory that says that every genre is more fun in multiplayer. Battle Rush proves that this isn't necessarily the case.

Taking the tired endless-runner genre and attempting to inject a bit of vitality into it is laudable, but it turns out that playing competitively against other players isn't necessarily the answer.

At least, not like this it isn't.

You play the part of a Totoro-like creature who sets off running into the screen. You scarcely need the tutorial section to tell you that you need to swipe left and right to dodge obstructions and up to jump over them.

Nor is it much of a surprise to learn that there are items to pick up, including two currencies in the form of red and green bug creatures.

What might register the faintest flicker of surprise is what these items and bugs are for. Green bugs build up your health, while red bugs build up an 'attack' gauge.

Hit a target box and you'll launch an attack on an off-screen opponent, who is represented by a separate health gauge to the right of the screen.

As you may have guessed, this mysterious nemesis is another player, chosen randomly by the game's match-making system. You can also engage one of your friends through Game Center.

It might sound like this would inject a little drive and purpose into the genre, but ultimately you're still just dodging and collecting stuff. The fact that your character occasionally takes damage and the game ends when one of two bars expires doesn't really matter.

This isn't helped by the fact that you can't see your opponent - just the aforementioned health bar. We're sure there really is another player on the other end, but with no direct feedback it's difficult to care.

Indeed, with a system that encourages you to spend currency (both virtual and real) on juicing your character up before each bout, it's not even particularly satisfying to score a win.

Battle Rush is a mediocre endless-runner with an ill-conceived competitive multiplayer element. It might well be the case that the endless-runner is better with more players, but this game isn't the proof.