iPhone It In: Canabalt
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Nov 11th 2009 at 8:00AM } 
And it's exactly the kind of game I want to pick up and play on my iPhone. Canabalt is perfect for the device: the gameplay comes in short, addictive bursts, it loads up quickly, and it employs the touchscreen in an intuitive way. Though a vast wealth of quick and addictive games now reside on my phone, I find myself constantly returning to Canabalt's rooftops and blaring techno music whenever I have a spare moment.
Gallery: Canabalt (iPhone)
Controlling Canabalt's silent protagonist never feels frustrating. The iPhone provides a working alternative to a pressure-sensitive button press, and thankfully didn't quarantine my thumb to one particular part of the screen. Whenever I fell to my death or slammed into a wall going too fast, the fault was always my own and never that of the controls.
All you're really doing here is jumping – as your speed increases, so does the danger of not being able to anticipate what's coming up next. My first tactic was to slow myself down by intentionally running into boxes, only to find out that I didn't have enough speed to get across the occasionally collapsing building. My current solution is a careful mix of high-speed running tempered by slow down periods every now and then, though I have no doubt that my tactics will change as time goes on. Every now and then a sound cue will indicate the impending drop of a bomb, throwing a wrench into my shabbily cobbled plans.
Everything from the game's infectious soundtrack (a song I never minded looping), to the background imagery telling a story that's never explicitly spelled out, makes Canabalt feel like a game truly intended for play on Apple's handheld. And, silly as it might seem, the Twitter tie-in has been serving as a leaderboard of sorts for me (I'm coming after you, JC Fletcher!), employing one more facet of the iPhone in a smart and, thankfully, non-intrusive way.
I suggest you check out the browser-based version of Canabalt online for free before buying the full version on your phone. At $2.99, though, you'd be a fool not to purchase the game and come after my high score. A fool I say! (And yes, that's a challenge!)
Canabalt ($2.99):
iPhone 3G running OS 3.1 was used for this review of Canabalt.
All you're really doing here is jumping – as your speed increases, so does the danger of not being able to anticipate what's coming up next. My first tactic was to slow myself down by intentionally running into boxes, only to find out that I didn't have enough speed to get across the occasionally collapsing building. My current solution is a careful mix of high-speed running tempered by slow down periods every now and then, though I have no doubt that my tactics will change as time goes on. Every now and then a sound cue will indicate the impending drop of a bomb, throwing a wrench into my shabbily cobbled plans.
Everything from the game's infectious soundtrack (a song I never minded looping), to the background imagery telling a story that's never explicitly spelled out, makes Canabalt feel like a game truly intended for play on Apple's handheld. And, silly as it might seem, the Twitter tie-in has been serving as a leaderboard of sorts for me (I'm coming after you, JC Fletcher!), employing one more facet of the iPhone in a smart and, thankfully, non-intrusive way.
I suggest you check out the browser-based version of Canabalt online for free before buying the full version on your phone. At $2.99, though, you'd be a fool not to purchase the game and come after my high score. A fool I say! (And yes, that's a challenge!)
Canabalt ($2.99):
iPhone 3G running OS 3.1 was used for this review of Canabalt.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Blank-Mage @ Nov 11th 2009 8:06AM
Although you very quickly reach a speed where it's impossible to tell how high to jump, and you hit a ceiling that only appeared after you committed yourself. Unless the phone version is somehow different.
kevinski @ Nov 11th 2009 8:20AM
You're supposed to hit smaller obstacles that're lying around in order to slow yourself down as you need to. And I hope that this comes to Android devices. I love this game! ^_^
Premature ejaculation man @ Nov 11th 2009 8:13AM
Yeah, its these kinds of games that I like on the iPod Touch. Doodle jump or fling are great because they can provide a challenge every time you open it, do not take long to learn, don't require large amounts of time to get results and encourage you to constantly beat yours (or a friend's) score.
I can only hope to get mine (Premature ejaculation man: the game!..Not really ;p) through the app store's door without being crushed by the hundred's of thousands of competitors.
Back on topic, I'll probably buy this though. Thanks for the review.
Martin @ Nov 11th 2009 9:10AM
Odd as it may seem, I find touching the screen is a poor replacement for hitting a key on a keyboard. The tactile feedback is pretty important in this game. I'm happy to have bought the game, since I still play it a ton on the web, but I won't really play the iPhone version much.
accounts @ Nov 11th 2009 9:50AM
Ahem: http://twitter.com/jonic/status/4951002495
Not the furthest ever, but I haven't come anywhere near that since.. I bloody LOVE this game, and would recommend it to anyone with an iPhone/iPod Touch..
Ocho @ Nov 11th 2009 9:53AM
Hands down the best iPhone game, and certainly one of my favorite games overall this year (which is saying a lot).
Meh @ Nov 11th 2009 11:06AM
Mouse > touchscreen
http://canabalt.com
coil780 @ Nov 11th 2009 11:06AM
Gotta say, it's hard to justify $3 on a one-button game that's free online. Is portability worth $3? Dunno.
Matt Jacobs @ Nov 11th 2009 11:26AM
If you want to see how your top score ranks against some of the other highest scores, you can look at an interim high-score board I put up (Semi-secret has said they're working on one of their own):
http://capndesign.com/canabalt/