Sink Your Fangs Into Nosferatu: Run From The Sun
Nosferatu - Run from the Sun ($0.99) by smuttlewerk interactive is an endless running game where the star is a cartoonish, sickly looking vampire on a quest to avoid the sun by jumping from rooftop to rooftop while gathering coins and making friends.
The game description says that Nosferatu features the cutest vampire of all time, but I’m going to respectfully disagree. I mean, have the developers seen Interview with the Vampire? I’m pretty sure Brad Pitt is the cutest vampire ever. Even Edward has a leg up on poor Nosferatu.
Your goal in the game is to run as far as possible, jumping from building to building to stay above the ground. If you happen to fall off of a building, the sun will catch up to you and burn your vampire to a crisp, so you’ll want to master the jumping mechanic. Luckily, it only takes a tap to jump and a double tap to double jump.
As Nosferatu races along, he’ll “make friends” by sinking his little fangs into them, causing them to turn into baby vampires. He’ll also gather up coins, which are used to buy skill upgrades. Other than the jumping, there are no real obstacles to avoid for the bulk of the game, which does get boring.
There are a few power ups to collect like a magnet that causes coins to automatically fly to Nosferatu and a speed boost, which sends him rocketing forward. There’s also a special “bat mode” where Nosferatu transforms into a bat, swoops into the air, and has to avoid flying aliens. This is by far the most fun part of the game, since it’s a nice break from the monotony of jumping.
The game has goals that you need to achieve, such as sprinting a certain distance or gathering a certain number of coins, but this system is definitely not as well done as in other games, like FANTASYxRUNNERS, so these never feel like clear cut goals.
Completing missions and earning high scores will cause Nosferatu to level up, which will increase your score multiplier by one. This means that if you finish several missions, you’ll be able to attain a much higher score.
As I mentioned before, there are skill upgrades to buy, which will upgrade power ups. For example, you can increase the duration of bat mode, enhance magnets, or and add a triple jump. While there are in-app purchases to buy coins for these abilities, you also gather coins in game at a reasonable rate, making the in-app purchasing entirely optional.
There are leaderboards that track your all time high score but I was disappointed to find that there weren’t any achievements to coincide with the in game missions. I’d like to see those, and other gameplay elements, like enemies, added in the future.
Other than a few shortcomings, this is a decent endless runner with a satisfying theme that’s great to pick up for a few minutes at a time while waiting in a line or sitting in the doctor’s office. Check this out if you like endless runners or if you’re a fan of vampires.
