Temple Run: Brave on iPhone: Running with the same shoes

Talk about a smart move. Disney and Pixar has assigned Imangi Studios, the creator of the original Temple Run, to create an iteration of the game that ropes in Brave, the Toy Story maker's latest animated masterpiece. (OK, so the movie isn't out yet, but you and I both know everyone and their grandma will go ga-ga over it.) So, what did Imangi Studios do?

It went and slapped the protagonist of the upcoming movie into Temple Run, along with her world and the giant black bear that seems to be a villain of sorts in the flick. Other than that, not much has changed. Players still have to swipe and tilt their way to high-score greatness, collecting as many coins as possible along the way to spend on power-ups and new outfits for Merida.

What Imangi Studios did add this time around are special bonus sections in which players tap oncoming targets for Merida to loose arrows at in order to increase the bonus multiplier ... all the while tilting the device to collect more coins. The addictive challenge and impressive graphics are all there. To that end, Temple Run: Brave is one fine branded game. But on the other side of the same coin, is a pitch-perfect application of the brand onto an existing game enough?

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In the creators' defense, they're not hiding the fact that this game is simply an iteration. That's the whole point, really: Take a game that clearly has found an extremely popular niche for itself and apply your brand to it for some extra recognition. Since Temple Run is already one of the best games around in its sub genre, it serves this purpose extremely well.

However, it's tough to recommend Temple Run: Brave if you already own the original. Simply put, enough hasn't been here to warrant shelling out another dollar. Of course, big-time Brave fans will go off and buy this game regardless of what we think. It's tough to blame Disney and Pixar for taking this approach with a Brave-branded mobile game, but it's equally tough to recommend for that very reason. (We're still totally seeing Brave anyway.)

Click here to download Temple Run: Brave on iOS and here on Android for $.99 Now >

Are you interested in this Brave-branded game? Are you still a fan of Temple Run? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.