Stick Run

Stick Run is a 2D physics-based, side scrolling game on Facebook that allows you to run through a never ending course using parkour-like movements as a stick figure. The game was developed by Manuel Otto and can serve as a competitive and addicting pass time. Your skills and reflexes will be tested as a stick figure parkour master.

The concept of Stick Run is very simple. Basically, your stick figure will be running through a randomly generated board filled with stacked boxes to leap over, saw blades to avoid or get chopped up on and panes of glass to smash through. In order to move through the continuous obstacle course, you have four movements controlled by the arrow keys: run forward, run back, jump and slide. Colliding with a box or a saw blade results in a bloody end to your run (and sometimes a bit of dismemberment). The game quickly follows this gory piece of stick mess up with the message “You Failed”. What it is exactly that you’ve failed isn’t clear since the only real goal is to make it as far as possible, but Stick Run is definitely disappointed in you. At the end of a run, your score, experience and number of jumps is tallied. You can post your score to your page on Facebook, or directly challenge a friend to beat it.

There are in-game achievements to earn in Stick Run. You can gain the achievements by running certain distances, dying in specific ways and performing feats as you master the arts of running, jumping and sliding. You’ll also level up and earn coins as you continue to play. The coins can be put to use in the shop to purchase different backgrounds for the course or to customize your stick figure.

The multiplayer section of Stick Run is where things can get really competitive. There is a chat room lobby of sorts that you can chitchat or trash talk other players in (a/s/l, anyone?), but the real challenge lies in the battle and wager matches. A battle match has four players racing against each other on the same course for coins to see who lasts the longest. Jump over your opponents broken and chopped up stick figures to win these matches. A wager match requires you to put 25, 50 or 100 coins on the line to run, but operates like a battle match, otherwise.

Stick Run can be an addictive game, but the simplicity of having only four movements and three obstacles also adds to the monotony. It is an entertaining game to play and a fun concept, but the gameplay itself will not likely keep you coming back for long.