3/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of Crossy Road.

System: iOS Started: 2015 Ended: 2015 Flashback Review The mid-2010s were a booming time for mobile games as Candy Crush and Angry Birds went mainstream, and the infamous game, Flappy Bird, became popular after the creator made it unavailable to buy in digital stores. I even see most classmates glued to their smartphones to play those popular games while waiting for the professor to drop in for the class session. I had finished playing app games like Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride. Instead, I downloaded a game called Crossy Road, as it was gaining popularity in the Apple Games Marketplace. I played it for the majority of the year when I took it for a bus ride to and from college. Crossy Road did not get the recognition it deserved, but it's still a solid free-to-play app game. Crossy Road is basically Frogger. You play as a chicken, and you crossroads, rivers, and even train tracks. Each step you take counts as a point, as well as picking up coins so you can unlock new characters. Since Crossy Road is an endless runner, the game ends if you are hit and will record your score so you can try to beat that or play competitively with a friend. Simple as always for these types of games. I usually enjoy endless runners that have that “flow” feel, like Temple Run and Jetpack Joyride. You just avoid obstacles smoothly and quickly as they come at you in a continuous pattern. In Crossy Road, however, you have to proceed carefully to avoid getting run over or falling into the river. This disrupts the flow a bit since you have to stop and time your jumps or watch for oncoming cars from the sides. If you wait too long or the chicken goes offscreen, a bird will swoop in and pick it up. I do like the modern 8-bit art style that everything looks colorful and blocky. It does feel like a 2010s game as we see almost every indie game replicate a modern-retro pixel art game. If you love Frogger or endless runner games, you'll enjoy Crossy Road. It's a good free-to-play game, but I personally prefer Temple Run or even Canabalt. The game did gain some attention, even getting an arcade version that I saw once at a local Round One Arcade. But shortly after a few years, it fell into obscurity. The most recent news on Crossy Road was that it got delisted on the Xbox 360 Marketplace just as I was typing my review of this game. But at least you can still play it on other devices, including phones, so it's not a big deal. Since this game is free, it's worth a play for 5 to 10 minutes.