Mr. Run and Jump

A platformer that requires extreme precision, but also honest, fun, difficult, and almost never frustrating. Atari returns to show us its expertise gained over more than 50 years of development and publishing: Mr. Run and Jump will appeal to you whether you're a hardcore gamer or you're looking for a quiet platformer, whether you started playing in the 1970s or a few days ago. A classic, without really being one.

I honestly had a great time playing Mr. Run and Jump. There’s a variety of fun mechanics, solid platforming, and distinct challenge. That said, the challenge may be too much for some folks, and I even considered throwing my controller aside in frustration several times. If you can push through the difficulty, there’s a ton of replay value and a surprisingly humorous adventure to enjoy—a great effort from Atari, Graphite Lab, and Heavy Horse Games.

Mr. Run and Jump is a fun, but frustrating game that does a good job in replicating the feel of classic Atari gameplay. The music set the tone for each Realm of Color stage very well. Some of the levels even have the enemies moving to the beat of the music too! However, the loose controls really hinder Mr. Run and Jump as a precision platforming game. Certain parts of levels felt like less like a challenge and more like a chore because of the controls and non-intentional ice physics.

You’ll need the hand-eye skills of a surgeon and the patience of a monk to make it through Mr. Run and Jump vibrant worlds. Although there’s fulfillment, there’s also the frustration of making a small error in timing, before repeating the same challenge for the twentieth time.