Full Review

So many auto-runners vie for attention now it can seem like a vast generic blur of jumping, sliding and coin-grabbing albeit with a gimmick here or there to prop it up. Punch Quest by Rocketcat Games and Madgarden makes no apologies for jumping in on the bandwagon, but it does so with as much pomp and excitement as Jetpack Joyride, while also bringing something far more interesting to the table - near endless brawling.

The name says it all - your character starts and ends their run by punching everything from skeletons to chilli-induced hallucinations. The only question left is how you go about staying alive. Do you sprint your way through, punching and blocking in a straight line, or will you mix things up by adding in uppercuts and superman strikes to take out airborne foes. No matter what you do the end result is the same - a huge, stupid grin on your face.

Keeping your combo alive in order to earn more points and credits is no easy task and is made all the harder thanks to enemies scaling with the level of your character. Formerly defenseless orcs will now bear a shield; bats that just floated by will duck down and bite you on the head; skeletons that just awaited destruction will start jabbing you with spears from afar; and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The credits you earn from missions and each run are spent on unlocking new 'fist powers' that activate automatically based on a power-bar that fills while punching enemies. These range from passive abilities such as increasing the number of enemies encountered or power-ups found, to having enemies turn in to living bombs once they're defeated. Aesthetic upgrades are also available, most notably in Rocketcat Games' preferred method of 'hats', but these can also be a benefit as ultra-expensive hats can occasionally activate even more powers.

By now you're probably screaming about it being a free game, so where's the catch? Surprisingly there is none. Credits earned are relatively generous, especially if you can complete later missions for huge cash bonuses, meaning there's always something you'll be able to save for and unlock. Should you feel like supporting the developer you'll unlock additional aesthetic items as a sort of thank you.

Whether its the visceral, bone-crunching sounds; the grinding soundtrack filled with gleeful brass notes; or the wonderfully detailed pixel-art visual style, Punch Quest has everything you could ask for in a game that doles out its fun a couple minutes at a time. A definite must-have for all action junkies.

App Store Info