The folks at Imangi Studios have had a lot of time to think about their next move. After all, with a game like Temple Run under your belt, you can afford to take the time to carefully consider what you’re going to do next. And while they’ve turned down other licensing deals before (read more about that in our interview), when Disney came calling, they did so with a property that Imangi would have been crazy to say no to: Pixar’s upcoming animated blockbuster Brave.
The folks at Imangi Studios have had a lot of time to think about their next move. After all, with a game like Temple Run under your belt, you can afford to take the time to carefully consider what you’re going to do next. And while they’ve turned down other licensing deals before (read more about that in our interview), when Disney came calling, they did so with a property that Imangi would have been crazy to say no to: Pixar’s upcoming animated blockbuster Brave.
A combination of existing game mechanics and movie licensing (not unlike Angry Birds Rio or Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots), Temple Run: Brave will take players to the moors of Scotland and they help Princess Merida swipe, slide and jump her way through an ever shifting landscape as she evades the clutches of the demon bear Mordu.
While the basics of gameplay will remain familiar to veterans of Temple Run (ie everybody), there’s a new twist being added into the mix this time around: archery. Merida will have her trusty bow and arrow on her at all times, and she’ll use them to shoot targets that appear on the left and right as she’s running, netting her bonus coins as a reward.
From the few early glimpses we’ve seen, Temple Run: Brave really seems to capture the look and feel of Merida’s world. When she jumps and slides her way through the landscape, the animations don’t feel like a simple re-skinning of Temple Run‘s Guy Dangerous. Instead, they have a style and flair that seems straight out of the Pixar playbook.
In a surprising twist, Temple Run: Brave won’t be debuting for free, but instead will sell for 99 cents. One can speculate as to the reasons for this (Disney has made a boatload of money on Where’s My Water? at that price point, people will buy it now that Temple Run is established, games like Skylanders Cloud Patrol are showing that IAP-powered games can do well even at $0.99, etc..) – but at least they’re giving you a little something extra for the purchase. In addition to the full game, you’ll start out with 2500 coins to spend – the same amount you’d get for making an in-app purchase of 99 cents.
The only downside to Temple Run: Brave that we’ve seen so far is a lack of iCade support. This won’t be a problem for most, but as any Temple Run fan with an iCade will tell you – once you’ve played it in a mini-arcade cabinet, it’s hard to go back.
Considering that everybody loves both Temple Run and Pixar, I have a hard time believing this won’t hit the top slot on the App Store in its first 24 hours. And we won’t have long to wait to find out. Disney and Imangi will be bringing Temple Run: Brave to the iPhone, iPad, and Android later this month.
