Never Stop Review

Get off at the next stop.

Are you a fan of mobile games? Do you like the Runner series? Well if the answer is yes to either of those questions then things will feel familiar with Never Stop. The game has a very simplistic feel, and shows all it has to offer in around ten minutes. The price tag of £4.49 is a little hefty given the small amount of content.

Never Stop is a multiplayer arcade style game which has you competing to outrun your opponents. There is a single player option where you can just play to beat your own personal high-score but it does get quite repetitive fairly quickly. You can play with up to four people in local multiplayer each taking control of a round orb; from here, jumping and dashing are your only form of control. If you’re playing multiplayer there are power-ups littered along the course, which can make your orbs larger, slow down time and switching places with other players to adjust the situations to your advantage.

It’s a similar, almost identical gameplay style to the Runner series; albeit with the charm and fluidity taken away. Unfortunately, having you play as a coloured orb doesn’t do the game any favours. You’re on a continuous path, avoiding obstacles on the ground and in the air; some are moving and some static. There is just one pre-set course with the same obstacles and layout which makes playing in both multiplayer and single player very repetitive.

While playing with friends, our time to failure tended to be at around the 30-40 second mark. I managed to get a lot further in single player, but after 3 or 4 attempts you will quickly grow tired of the obstacles presented to you. There just isn’t enough variation in the hazards to keep the player engaged for all that long. It’s one for the high score chasers, for sure, but if you don’t belong to that group, you’re likely to find yourself wanting to put the game down pretty swiftly after starting it.

The game’s appearance differs between the single and multiplayer modes. The colour of the environment changes in line with your progression when you’re playing on your own, but in multiplayer the environment looks incredibly grey. It’s an odd choice as Never Stop is certainly more engaging playing with friends, and given the drab and dull nature of the multiplayer it doesn’t really jump out of the screen to invite you back for more when it has its highest playing audience numbers.

There are some attempts to add variety into the never ending running, with platforms which raise and lower as your orb goes over them. This does break up the monotonous tone, but it’s a small thing. More along this line would have been most welcome.

Never stop feels like a game that’s worth £2 at maximum, but dressed up with its £4.49 starting price, you’re better off waiting until it’s cheap as chips in an eShop sale before adding it to your collection. You’ll find a much better multiplayer experience, with a similar gameplay style, in Runbow.