On November 21, prepare to Turn N Run on Xbox Windows Phone

By Paul Acevedo
last updated

Windows Phone Central recently compared the popular puzzle game Cut the Rope to Spider Jack, a competing Xbox Windows Phone title. Spider Jack comes from a small developer called MaxNick and publisher Electronic Arts. Now we’re pleased to announce that MaxNick and EA have another Xbox game in store for us this Wednesday: Turn N Run. Also pleasing: it will run on both Windows Phone 7 and 8.

Head past the break for exclusive Turn N Run details, a list of the game’s Achievements, and a trailer!

Alien on the run

Turn N Run originally debuted on iOS back in September, so the Windows Phone port arrives in a fairly timely manner. MaxNick’s latest is a puzzle game (non-physics, thankfully) that involves, as you might guess, both turning and running. It stars a small insect-like alien who travels to various planets in search of the red crystals he needs to power his rocket ship. Comic book-style panels bring the simple story to life; you can catch a glimpse in the trailer.

In each of the game’s 60 levels, your goal is to grab as many crystals as possible and escape to the rocket. Crystals are used to unlock new planets and of course, Achievements.

The controls in Turn N Run are quite simple. You simply tap a block and the protagonist moves to it if he’s able to do so. However, many levels have gaps which the little guy can’t jump across. That’s where the turning comes in!

2D and 3D in one

See, the game starts out from a 2D side-view perspective. But swiping anywhere on-screen allows you to rotate the camera at will. You can peer above and below the level to get an idea of its layout, but the main use of swiping is to make new pathways open to the alien. While one 2D perspective may be filled with gaps, rotating the view 90 degrees reveals a solid path for him to take.

As the bug hero progresses to new planets, the puzzles eventually gain new features that add to their complexity. These include moving blocks and color-coded portals. Step through a portal and you’ll exit from another of the same color.

Turn N Run Achievements

Turn N Run is a pleasant, simple puzzle game that plays unlike any other Xbox Windows Phone game. I ran through a few levels and couldn’t find a way to fail or die, which should make for a relatively painless experience. The Achievements look easy too.

Great news for price-sensitive gamers: the Windows Phone version of Turn N Run will ring up at only 99 cents when it launches on Wednesday, November 21st, just like the iOS version. Could the low price mean that MaxNick’s Spider Jack is due for a price drop as well? Stay tuned, readers!

Windows 8 too

If you’d like to try Turn N Run out before Wednesday, the non-Xbox Windows 8 version costs $4.99 and offers a free trial. It controls great with either a mouse or touch. Get it here (opens in new tab) from the Windows 8 Store.

Turn N Run

Paul Acevedo
Paul Acevedo

Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!

34 Comments
  • This looks like a crap version of super monkey ball...
  • Have you ever played SMB? Because this looks nothing like it.
  • Yeah, I have. Quite a lot actually. I find these very similar, minus the controls. This doesn't seem to use tilt. Let me rephrase: This looks like a crappy version of SMB mixed with a platformer. better? :)
  • I think what you mean is this looks like a ripoff of Fez
  • They're nothing alike other than sharing the goal of moving from one place to another while grabbing collectibles.
  • And... that is what SMB is all about, is it not? As I mentioned, it's SMB mixed with platformed. Graphics are terrible too. There are better games out there, by the looks of it.
  • Sharing a common objective of getting from the beginning of a level to the end of a level is far too broad for a comparison to Super Monkey Ball to make sense to most people because it is not a defining feature.  I mean, Paul's description above applies to thousands of games.  It's like saying that this is like Wordament because it has achievements.  That might make sense if Wordament was unique in having achievements, but that clearly isn't the case.  What you said [in reply to snarkysnickerdoodle] is basically the equivalent of "This is like Super Monkey Ball...except for all of the things that make Super Monkey Ball stand out."  I mean, you're welcome to think that the two games somehow look alike; it's just a bit of a stretch. If anything, I would say it looks like a cross between Fez and ilomilo.
  • I felt there were similarities on how the levels are built. You are on a bunch of floating grassy roads in the sky/space collecting whatever it is you collect. SMB is the first thing that came to mind.
  • WE NEED TOEJAM AND ERL
  • Calm down. There's no need to yell. :P
  • LOUD NOISES!
  • Lol wouldn't it be awesome to have the Sega version of toe jam and erl :P
  • At first we need M$ to drop the prices of old xbox game titles in the windows phone store.
    It's so sad to see POPULAR games like Angry Birds Space/Star Wars,Cut the rope cost 0.99$ and other nice games for example Countre Jour,Gravity Guy etc. to cost 2.99$ while on iTunes you can purchase them for only 0.99$
    I hope that the new popular game titles that are coming on WP8 are not going to be over priced like WP7.5
  • M$? Really? Looks like we are back in the 90s...
    Anyway, why is it so hard for people to identify who is responsible for things in the mobile market? Just because a game has the Xbox Live stamp on it does not mean MS paid for its development, and thus would be responsible for how much to charge for it. Most of the game you listed aren't MS owned properties so they can't forced a maximum price point.
     
    It's this little thing called supply and demand. Those games are cheaper on other platforms because there are many more people buying them at that cheaperprice point. Since there are way less potential buyers on WP, developers charge more per app  to make up the difference. The alternative is them ignoring WP altogether.
     
    So expect more overpriced games on WP8 but expect them to actually show up unlike with WP7.5
  • While I get where you are coming from, I think MS should really push to have the games priced similar to those on other OS's, be that in a letter, or perhaps incentives for devs (monetary or otherwise). It's tough to justify jumping to another platform (because, let's face it, most people coming to WP are converts, not those who are brand new to the smartphone market) when software costs 3x the price on one platform as it does the other. I wouldn't say it's fair to blame MS, per se, but I would like to see them pushing for equal pricing.
  • I very much agree, but unfortunately we have a vocal minority who undervalue everything and ignore market realities.
  • Did you say EASY ACHIEVEMENTS???? ahhhhh. I'm preordering right now. Wait I can't preorder arghhh. Oh well this is a instant buy as soon as it hits the market for me.
  • well, .99 cent. I will buy! :D. I may have zero time to play it as I will be glued to the wii-u for the next undetermined amount of time.
    I would love to get spiderjack for .99 too!
  • The above posters have brought up a few points I've thought about lately....
    I buy games I like and ask others to as well since it will only help the platform gain dev's if there are people paying them and yes a couple of bucks is fair for a game,no argument there at all.....
    Now the other side...How in the hell do they still attempt to sell titles like Oregon Trail,NFS's,Earthworm JIm,Monopoly and other wp7 games for $4.99 still? I'd rather sell 100,000 @ .99 than 10,000 @ $4.99
     
    As for Namco/Bandai charging $6.99 for galaga which has horrible ratings and reviews as well as Pac-man for same price I have to wonder how they expect to succeed?
    I guess the expensive ones have to pay for liscensing titles and therefore add that cost back into initial price.
     
    ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN A GLU GAME,new wp8 users should AVOID
  • Looks pretty cool, I've never heard of it before.  Instant pick up when it hits the marketplace next week!  
  • Looks interesting. The game of course. Since the gaming community is full of entitlement and just whines, and whines. Boring.
  • This will be an instant purchase for me. I have made it a point to purchase all 99 cent games instantly, even if they are trash (not saying this one is...yet).
  • What's the point of having achievements if they take no skill whatsoever?
  • That creature looks like the thing from monsters vs aliens
  • Sometimes I wish Microsoft owned PlayStation instead of XBox.  This is one of those times.  
     
  • What do you mean?
  • That was totally random, illogical, and silly. Trying to figure out what that statement has anything to do with the article, or anything got me thinking about prescription meds.
  • That looks like Doctor Cockroach from Monsters and Aliens. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3283539455_a90c0d717c.jpg
  • Lol
  • B
  • Always the last,  -  after IOs and Android (( Show me just one game which was on WindowsPhone before IOS or Android
  • Show you one.? I can name a few but will just start with tentacles.......
  • It takes a lot more effort to port games to WP7 than it does to iOS or Android. With the arrival of WP8, simultaneous releases should be much more feasible. That said, two months later for this game isn't bad at all.
  • With that price, sold. Doesn't look like my kind of a game but oh well.