Temple Run 2

Temple Run 2 is the polished sequel to one of the most popular games of all time. Featuring improved graphics, smoother gameplay, and lots of new obstacles and challenges, it's a clear improvement over its predecessor.

Just like its predecessor, Temple Run 2 is a free-to-play 3d platformer that's available on major phone operating systems. In Temple Run 2, you control an Indiana Jones-like adventurer who has looted a relic from a temple in the sky. A large monkey pursues you, prompting your character to run away as fast as they can. The goal of Temple Run 2 is to get as far away as you can from the starting position before you slip off one of the treacherous paths, run into a wall, or trip and wind up as monkey food.

The Temple Run games utilize a simple, intuitive control scheme. In Temple Run 2, your character runs automatically. This means that you can concentrate on steering, jumping, ducking, and collecting coins. The game is controlled by a combination of swipes and tilts. Swipe up to jump, swipe down to slide, swipe left or right to turn, and tilt the screen in either direction to shift your character's position within the road that they're running on.

Temple Run 2 is difficult, hectic, and addicting. The further you run, the faster your character goes, ensuring that the game will quickly become challenging for players of all skill levels. The game feels a bit more responsive than the first game due to a number of factors, including the ability to perform other actions while you jump. This allows you to jump and turn in short succession, helping you avoid accidental deaths and giving you a bit more freedom in terms of movement.

As you run, the road ahead of you will often have both coins and diamonds. Diamonds are a premium currency introduced in Temple Run 2. Their primary purpose is to give you the ability to recover from a death and keep running. While you'll be sure to find diamonds in each run of Temple Run 2, the number of diamonds it takes to resurrect after each death goes up, ensuring tha the game remains difficult. Coins are used in the in-game shop to purchase powerups, characters, and more. Because coins persist on your device forever, you'll get something out of each Temple Run 2 each time you play. Even if you die fast, you'll still earn some coins towards your next goal.

The aesthetics, music, and graphics of Temple Run 2 are exceptional. While the game shows its age slightly in terms of raw graphical complexity, it's been lovingly crafted with plenty of character. Temple Run 2 uses a completely different behind-the-scenes engine than Temple Run 1, allowing the sequel to show off plenty of cool environments to run in, add things like ziplines for more excitement, and generally look incredible. The music is great, too, with many fans choosing to add a few tracks to their playlists even when they're not playing.

Just like with the first Temple Run, the key to success in Temple Run 2 is comfort and focus. When you're in the right mindset and you've got good posture and hand position, you'll find it a lot easier to react quickly to the speeding obstacles the game throws at you. When you're frustrated and your hands are cramping up, you'll find jumping over basic obstacles hard. Be sure to relax, hold your phone in a way that will work over a long play session, and let the game's atmosphere take you in.

Each of the characters in Temple Run 2 has a special power. Because of this, it's worth taking the time to unlock them all fairly early on in your gameplay. Guy's special power is fairly mediocre when it comes to scoring points, but all of the other characters have exceptional abilities that will boost your score. Once you've unlocked the characters you'll be able to swap their powers around, ensuring that you can always play as the person you want while having the power you like the most.

Your first few runs will probably not score great. That's fine. Not only are you learning the game, but you haven't unlocked and maxed out all of the abilities in the shop. Purchasing these early is a good idea if you're going for high scores, as these abilities will get you more coins, more energy, and better ways to cope with death. Try to nab all of the coin upgrades, the score multiplier increases, and the pickup spawn upgrades. The coin magnet upgrade is also great, especially if you're not a fan of swerving around to hunt more coins.

Your score in Temple Run 2 is tied directly to your multiplier. Completing objectives increases the multiplier and massively increases your score. As a result, you'll want to try to blow through each objective as quickly as possible. The coin magnet power can help here, but the real trick is to just zone in and get things done yourself.

Generally speaking, getting farther in the level is worth more than picking up a few coins or a powerup. You can't collect any coins if you're dead. If you're not confident in your situation, try to stick to a safe path rather than swerving around to pick up coins. As you gain experience with the game, you'll become increasingly confident in muddy situations, enabling you to grab a few coins safely without risking too much progress. Similarly, if there's a powerup right on the edge of a cliff, don't be afraid to ignore it if you're not sure you can make the jump.

While Temple Run 2 feels smoother and better to control than Temple Run 1, this has given the developers the power to challenge you more. Take advantage of the ability to slide or jump and turn at the same time and be sure to transition from slides to jumps whenever it helps you out. You'll likely find that there are a few spots in Temple Run 2 where jump timing matters a lot, often with two jumpable obstacles right next to each other. In these cases, you'll want to try to delay your jump as long as possible to try to clear both obstacles at the same time.

Are you a fan of Temple Run 2? What are your favorite characters, powerups, and special powers? Let is know in the comments below! We'd love to hear about your high scores, your favorite levels, and any tips you might have that we missed.