There's just something about those simple, one-touch games that I find utterly addictive. Maybe it's the no-nonsense gameplay. Maybe it's the quick pace. Maybe it's the single objective you've got to focus your mind on, like a high intensity laser, but games like this just draw me in.
Canabalt HD is no exception, and for good reason. With a kickin' soundtrack, easy-to-learn (but hard to master) gameplay, and visual effects that are simple yet endearing, this game is the whole package.
The premise is pretty plain: the city is in ruins, everything is falling down, bombs are periodically raining from the sky, and you've got to high tail it out of there as quickly as you can if you want to survive. What's stopping you? Ill-timed jumps (to break through windows) and boxes that are haphazardly strewn about. (Seriously, who left all these boxes here?)
So you tap the screen to jump, and that's about it. Unlike other games of this sort, running into something (like those darn boxes) doesn't automatically mean game over. It does mean you're slowed down a bit, and in a situation where every second counts, you'll want to avoid those boxes just like you would in any other game.
The folks who brought this iOS hit over to Android (Kittehface Software), added some neat visual tweaks, like being able to change the background from the original 2D to their updated 3D, and while that doesn't really make or break the gameplay experience, it's still cool to have the option.
If you find yourself becoming a Canabalt HD master, there's also online leaderboards that track who has run the farthest in a single session, so there's totally the chance to gain notoriety and fame by becoming the best Canabalt HD player in the world. (No, really.)
Overall, Canabalt HD is awesome. It gets the adrenaline pumping, the finger twitching, and burns all sorts of free time (and probably time you're supposed to spend on other stuff), so check it out.
Canabalt HD is $2.99 in the Google Play Store. We've got download links after the break.