"After over a decade and a half since it originally splashed on the indie scene Chris Street’s legendary freeware platformer Zone Runner has been resurrected in mobile form thanks to a new third game in the series exclusive to Android dubbed Zone Runner: Portable. While it’s simplistic retro visuals may seem disarming at first don’t be fooled; Zone Runner is a both enthralling and infuriating skill based platformer existing somewhere between Super Crate Box and Super Meat Boy that will crush your soul into paste if you let it get the better of you. The basic coin-collecting objective laying at the heart of every arena style level may seem like a simple task at first glance but absolutely fiendish level design will see player’s bouncing off the screen to their doom many times over before they acquire the kind of zen-like concentration required to thread the metaphorical needle presented by the many traps and enemies standing in their way. Zone Runner: Portable’s particular brand of merciless arcade platforming may be a bit of an acquired taste but those that are fans of the genre will find a well crafted on the go experience that doesn’t hold hands just because it’s on a touchscreen.
At the start of each level players are plopped into the middle of an arena and tasked with collecting every coin using simple platforming controls in order to proceed. This ostensibly straightforward task is made difficult in how the coins are placed which is often smack dab in the middle of a prickly situation like behind a wall of moving spikes or being guarded by patrolling enemies that will insta-kill any protagonists unfortunate enough to cross their path. Here is where Zone Runner: Portable distinguishes itself as its crafty level design is what really makes or breaks the whole experience with an appreciably high skill ceiling that demands precise timing which is something you don’t often find in a mobile platformer. As players progress through the game’s 40 level campaign these obstacles will progress from the relatively mundane like a few spikes here and there all the way to completely bonkers with players dodging lava turrets and dancing spike snakes.
Zone Runner: Portable’s retro style and pixel art graphics stays true to the series’ roots with a basic but functional art aesthetic which lends crispness and an appreciably more utilitarian look when the action gets hectic and every pixel counts. A thumping electronica soundtrack accompanies the mayhem with head bobbing beats that feel appropriate considering the fast paced nature of the game."