Smash Hit
Smash Hit is an endless running game developed by the Swedish indie game studio, Mediocre. Gameplay. "Smash Hit" involves a steadily-moving view through a decorative, colorful passageway. As is typical with other scroller games, the music changes along with the level. The pace is fixed and the player doesn't slow down due to anything other than "losing" the game. The player has an inventory of metal balls (of which the player begins with 25) that they can tap the screen to aim and shoot. If the player runs out of balls, the game ends. Smash Hit  is playable at no cost and free from ads. An optional premium upgrade is available through a one-time in-app purchase that will enable new game modes, cloud save across multiple devices, detailed statistics and the ability to continue from checkpoints. Obstacles, many of which may be in motion, may get in the way. If an obstacle is hit, the player loses 10 balls. Many of these obstacles are made of glass and can be smashed (hence the name "Smash Hit"). Other obtacles require the hitting of buttons to be moved out of the way. There are power-ups , such as giving the player an infinite supply of balls for a short time, turning all their balls explosive for a short time, or slowing time down for a short time. There are also small, blue polyhedral crystals scattered throughout the map. On hitting a square pyramid with a ball, the player receives 3 balls; on hitting an octahedron, 5 balls; and on hitting a 3D star, 10 balls. If the player hits 10 crystals in a row without missing any, they gain the ability to shoot multiple balls at once. Every subsequent 10 crystals increases this ability by one  ball, up to a maximum of 5 balls per tap, from the single-ball default. If the player hits an obstacle or misses any of the crystals, they lose their ability to shoot multiple balls. Over time, the levels get more and more challenging. If the player completes all the checkpoints, there is an "endless mode" at the end where the goal is to survive as long as possible, repeating the same course over and over. For every 0.1% through a checkpoint, 1 is added to the score. At the end of one checkpoint, the player will have gained 1,000  points. In the endless mode, the game still counts the points, except it is the same course (set of 4 different rooms) over and over rather than different courses. Some of the highest scores in the world are in the ballpark of 20,000; a dozen of players have scored more than 30,000; the average experienced player will average 14,000-16,000; and the occasional player will average 4,000-8,000. A first-time player can sometimes break 1,000. As the player will inevitably run out of balls, they will lose eventually. The object of the game is to travel as far as  they can before they lose, rather than winning. Mediocre has also released a version of the game for Samsung Gear VR titled Smash Hit VR. Reception. Smash Hit received mostly positive reviews. Apple'N'Apps gave the game 4.5 out of 5 praising it as "one of the best looking games on iOS", having "ultra realistic physics" and "engaging endless gameplay" while criticizing that the "base mechanic is relatively rudimentary" and that "can be tough to tell if you will make it through gaps".