Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure
By Marc Saltzman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Average puzzler doesn't reinvent Match-3 mechanics.
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Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure
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What’s It About?
TEMPLE RUN: PUZZLE ADVENTURE is a bit of a departure from the "endless runner" action of its predecessors, and focuses more on slower-paced puzzles. Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure is a "Match-3"-style game, where you're presented with a board of colorful items and must swipe adjacent items in order to create a match of at least three of the same in a row or column so that they're destroyed and removed from the board. All other pieces then cascade down, as if gravity affected them. Other shapes are welcome, too, such as a 2x2 match (square), a letter "L" or "T," and others that may create a useful item on the board. The goal of each board varies, but you will have a certain number of moves in order to reach your goal. One task may be to destroy a certain number of colored items, another may be to break all the ice behind each tile, bring down an object from the top to the bottom, and so on. As part of the Apple Arcade subscription service -- playable on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac -- Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure folds in the "adventure" elements from the popular franchise, with a loose story about an archeologist named Scarlett Fox (and later accompanied by another adventurer) with some text-based banter between each level, spread out over 3 locations (1,000 boards/levels in total). Rather than candy pieces, this game's items may be Incan or Mayan, such as pottery, jewels, gold bars, pearls, stone statues, crystals, pickaxes, baskets, and so on.
Is It Any Good?
If you've played several of these Match-3 games over the years, this is merely an average puzzler in this space. Sure, if you're already an Apple Arcade subscriber and enjoy these kinds of games, Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure is worth checking out as you have nothing to lose but time. You may like the connection to Temple Run if you've got a nostalgic leaning towards that decade-old brand. But there really isn't anything new here. It's the same mechanic -- right down to the different variations of the missions, the power-ups (bombs, rockets), the 3-star system per board (good, better, best performance), and visual style of the entire game (two family members thought it was Candy Crush at first glance).
Sure, the "adventure" element is played up a bit, and true to its heritage you are rewarded with "speed" if you complete levels expeditiously, but that's about it. While not a bad game, it's just a little disappointing. Perhaps if there was something different added into the mix, it would rise above mediocrity. For example, what if there was a different (perhaps 3-D) perspective of the board instead of the flat, 3-D wall of items? Or what if there was a multiplayer component, where you and an online friend could adventure together? Or maybe the storyline with Scarlett Fox could be interactive in between levels, such as a "choose your own adventure" approach, with environmental puzzles to solve, too? Maybe there could be minigames that break up the redundancy? You get the idea. There doesn't seem to be much thought here into what makes it stand out from the rest. That said, there are collectible items and Achievements (like "Collect 5000 Orange Gems"), but nothing really happens when you do. Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure is a good but not great Match-3 game. Parents may like there's no in-game purchases, plus there's no ads to sit through as an Apple Arcade title, but don't expect anything original here.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the Temple Run franchise and its expansion into other genres, like puzzles. Does it make sense or does this seem like a stretch. Did the developers create a game that's good enough to stand on its own -- even without the Temple Run association?
Should players be able to create their own character from scratch, as many games allow, in order to make it look like the player (or someone else altogether)? Even though story isn't important in Temple Run: Puzzle Adventure, will people want to play as a young white adventure and archeologist instead of customizing the character's look?
Game Details
- Platform: Apple Arcade
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Scopely
- Release date: October 7, 2021
- Genre: Puzzle
- Topics: Adventures , History
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: October 26, 2021
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