Temple Run OZ
If you have a smart phone, and are either one of us (one of us, one of us) or have children, you may have noticed how incredibly well Disney has done ramping up with movie tie-in apps. I'm not sure if we can count Star Wars Angry Birds, but that does stand as an app that proves that any intellectual property these days can make a killing in this brave new world of transmedia. (Yeah, I used jargon.)
Over a year ago, Disney licensed the brilliantly addictive game Temple Run from Imangi Studios, allowing them to create Temple Run Brave. If you haven't played the basic game, it's devastatingly simple. You run.You run from screaming monkeys with skull faces and collect coins in your path, trying to twist and turn and not stray from the path or you will be eaten. I'm pretty much sure this is how man first started out on the veldt.
Notice above that screaming monkeys reference, because just that alone makes Temple Run OZ, released on Monday, a no-brainer game crossover. For $.99 on the iTunes store, I can guarantee you that you will be able to recreate at least one sequence from Disney's upcoming OZ, the Great and Powerful over and over and over -- to greater rewards than in the film.
 It's a satisfying game on a couple of levels. If you hate James Franco, watching him get pursued by bat-winged baboons may warm the depths of your cold soul. But Disney has improved upon the game play, and thus this version has much to offer players.
Having only recently started playing Temple Run at the behest of my son, I can make a fresh comparison and say that Disney Mobile has made a lush game even more lush; this game is a little harder to play because I keep stopping to marvel at the environment.
This version of the game is a little more family friendly and kind. The original usually describes a grisly fate for the runners when you inevitably fail, but here, we just get a cartoony OZ recovering with little flying monkeys twirling around his head, even when he has been carried off by a savage screeching baboon.
Oh, yes, that's where this game excels -- danger from above and below with no warning. (To be fair, I haven't played Temple Run 2, which may have already started this innovation.) But you can be running along blissfully and suddenly a baboon swoops down. The very ground beneath your feet actually starts crumbling -- and the tilt control is a little more sensitive, so if you overcompensate to get back on the ridge, you could still fall right off of it.
But there are also moments of repose, sorely needed as the game speeds up. From time to time, Oz leaps into his balloon for a short opportunity to gather coins in the sky. There are emerald obstacles (another sequence out of the film), but though they might shake the balloon, bumping into them doesn't stop the game.
You can buy your way out of trouble, with jewels you win in the game or purchase on-line, and I do have to wonder if that might be wishful thinking on Disney's part. For a simple addictive game, they've priced extra coins and bonuses highly -- including a $99.99 pack of 500,000 coins. Someone write in to me and explain why you would buy that if part of the reward of playing the game is earning coins? I may be sketchy on my game theory.
While I can't justify that huge cost, the basic game itself has proven to be extremely fun and well worth its base price. Go into the App Store and get yourself a little of that magic of Oz.
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