jumps

4x4 Jam is an off-road racer that lets you drive wherever you want--an ongoing and changing landscape continues in every direction. This game is from the early days of the iTunes App Store, and while the gameplay is still pretty fun, it's easy to tell the graphics haven't been updated for the latest iOS devices.

Even so, 4x4 Jam still manages to be fun and worthy of a download if you've never tried it. Steer by tilting your iPhone left and right and you have several options for control sets depending on how much control over gas … Read more

Monster Trucks Nitro 2 is the sequel to popular game Monster Trucks Nitro, both with the object of racing through courses littered with obstacles to compete for the best time. In Monster Trucks Nitro 2, you're challenged to work your way up through the ranks by completing early novice courses on up to championship races using different types of vehicles depending on the race. The control system gives you a throttle control across the bottom of the screen (which you'll rarely change from full power) and the accelerometer to control flips while in the air. Though MTN2 is … Read more

NinJump is yet another Android game that casts you in the role of a stealthy ninja on the run. As you quickly climb up the walls of what appears to be an infinitely tall building, you must hop back and forth to avoid colliding with obstacles. Enemy ninjas with throwing stars stand in your way, as do jutting balconies. Meanwhile, there are shields you can pick up and birds to attack along your way. Hit three birds in a row, and you get a bonus jump, which essentially boosts your speed for a short time. And, of course, your ultimate … Read more

Donkey Jump is a vertically scrolling platform-jumping game very similar to another popular mobile hit, Doodle Jump. In Donkey Jump, your character, a spitting image of Donkey from Shrek, keeps jumping automatically, while your job is to tilt your device to maneuver him onto clouds. The higher you go, the more points you accumulate. Miss a platform, and you'll have to start all over.

As with Doodle Jump, we enjoy the simplicity of Donkey Jump's controls. It's easy to learn and easy to pick up on a whim, even when you only have a couple minutes of … Read more

Yoo Ninja puts you in the swift-moving shoes of a ninja on the run. As the levels automatically scroll to the right, you must tap the screen to hop from floor to ceiling and back, avoiding obstacles along the way, and moving fast enough to evade the throwing stars hot on your heels. Slow down too much and they will end your game in one fell slice. Tap the screen at the wrong time, and you could end up flying above or below a platform into the abyss. In Story Mode, you travel through 34 levels and across four different … Read more

In Moon Chaser, you are a stealthy ninja, controlling gravity, sliding along hills and valleys, and launching yourself high into the sky. Your challenge is to travel as far as you can, through different mountain stages, before the moon is completely eclipsed. Luckily, between each mountain stage, your moonlight is replenished, giving you just a bit more time to do your thing. Very similar to Dragon, Fly! and the extremely popular Tiny Wings, Moon Chaser is another addition to an already classic genre of mobile game.

By tapping the screen on declines, you can increase the pull of gravity and … Read more

Dune Rider is a freemium (as well as ad-supported) stunt-driving game that starts you out with just one vehicle, one level ("Zone 1"), and a clumsy steering interface.

Not only do you start the game with limited choices, but you're also strongly encouraged each time to buy more fuel, nitro boosts, and bonus multipliers in order to have any hope of getting the kind of score you need to earn coins, which you must then use to buy more fuel, nitro boosts, and bonus multipliers. Hopefully, you can save enough coins over time to buy new cars … Read more

NinJump Deluxe HD is the souped-up version of the free, popular NinJump, an infinitely scrolling vertical-climbing game with a super-simple one-tap interface.

As with other games in this genre (whether vertically or horizontally oriented), the goal is to get as far as you can without dying. You play an ultranimble ninja, jumping between two walls on the left and right of the screen to avoid obstacles and enemies. You're always moving up--quickly!--and you tap anywhere on the screen to leap between the two walls. In the game's classic version, you scale generically pagoda-like structures and fight ninja-esque … Read more

Doodle Jump is a fun and addictive platform-jumping game with a cute, hand-scribbled aesthetic and a cleverly integrated leaderboard. Not surprising for such an addictive game, the interface couldn't be more simple: you keep jumping automatically, and you gently tilt the device to move left and right. As you move higher and higher up an infinitely scrolling, wraparound vertical screen, you jump onto an increasingly challenging arrangement of platforms--including moving blue platforms, crumbling brown platforms, white platforms that disappear after one jump, and platforms with jump-boosting springs and jet packs.

You have to tap the screen to shoot the … Read more