Protect Teddy review: play this game, you won’t regret it

Protect Teddy is not the best game name in the world. It’s too simple, the words don’t roll off the tongue, and it sounds like it’s geared towards children. But don’t judge Dilectus Games’ first offering by its copy. Protect Teddy is one of the best games I’ve played on iOS so far.

Created in Malaysia, Protect Teddy starts with a story. In a kingdom far away are many little teddies who are kept safe in a castle by their personal knightly companions. However, teddies being teddies, our furry friends get bored with life within the walls. One day, a magical flying sprig of bamboo whirs its way into the castle. A particular Teddy seizes the chance, grabs it, and flies off. Of course, his noble protector goes with him (that’s you).

Protect Teddy is an endless runner with a twist. You don’t just run; you must also fight. Monsters appear as Teddy flies onward in the big bad world, and it’s up to you, his knight, to tap on them and slay them.

The game screen fills up with a set number of monsters each time, spawning them in a random pattern. These monsters can range from simple one-hit-KO balloon-like creatures to electric goldfish and flying birds, and must be defeated with well-timed single or multiple attacks.

Bombs—that automatically end your game if you hit them—also spawn. As you fight, you pick up bonuses like stars, power-ups, and gold coins. Four stars activates a fever, which is a bonus mode where you can collect more points.

The coins collected can be spent on changing your knight and teddy avatars, upgrading your knight (these upgrades go by account, not by avatar), and buying power-ups for individual rounds. I normally don’t make in-app purchases, but Protect Teddy makes me want to do it.

The game is adorably drawn, and is accompanied by a catchy, uptempo tune that I could listen to on loop all day. Protect Teddy is kept fresh with randomly-generated levels, and each avatar upgrade is attainable, yet not so easily-attainable that you can pick it up in an hour. There are also secret avatars that can only be unlocked with items that drop after each run. Bunny Knight!? Come on, that’s too cute.

I experienced one minor annoyance with the game: the monsters spawn too close to the pause button. I also think Protect Teddy should have a pop-up that confirms you want to buy a power-up because I bought some stuff I didn’t want by tapping too quickly, but overall there is nothing overly terrible about Protect Teddy.

If you just read one sentence of this review, then read this one: Protect Teddy is just cute and fun enough to make me want to spend on it, and to play it for a good, long time.

Protect Teddy will be out for iOS on April 27, 2014.