Earlier this week, I got an email from out friends at Backflip Studios.  For me, emails like this are like Christmas in July…or Channukkah in August.  Backflip Studios are one of my favorite iOS game developers, and I am rarely disappointed when I get an email announcing a new game from them.   They have already had a busy summer, nearly doubling their catalogue with titles like Tunnel Shoot, Graffiti Ball, and Strike Knight, which were all released in the past months. 

Backflip’s latest offering, NinJump, turns the action on its side…literally.  This game resembles horizontal running games, with a twist.  Instead of running across the screen, the object is to climb two up the space between two buildings.  To put it another way, here is how Julian, the CEO of Backflip describes his latest creation:

I think it would best be described as a fast paced Ninja climbing game meets a twisted cousin of match three.  The object is to climb as high as you can while avoiding enemy birds, rabid squirrels and other crazed ninja’s.  However, enormous animated bonuses are given whenever you hit any three of these, in a row, in the air.

Let’s go ahead and look at this one element at a time.  First, you are a ninja, and everyone knows ninjas can climb effortlessly up a solid wall.  Here, you have two walls side by side, so climbing is no problem.  In fact, you do not need to do anything in order to climb.  As soon as the game begins, your ninja will automatically start running up the wall.

Before long, you will begin to encounter obstacles and enemies.  Birds fly at you, squirrels race across the screen, even enemy ninjas will attack you.  To evade these attacks and obstacles, just tap the screen in order to jump from one wall to the other.  While you are flying thru the air, your sword will fly with you, deflecting any attacks which may threaten you.  Hack three consecutive matching attacks (ie: three birds, three squirrels, or three throwing stars) in order to activate the bonus attack.

Other than activating the bonus attacks, however, there is really no need to attack the enemies.  The goal is to climb as high as possible, and that is all you need to do to earn points.  The result is the same whether you attack or simply dodge…though sometimes attacking can just be an awful lot more fun.

Of course, when you do reach unprecedented heights, you are going to want to share your progress with your friends.  For that, at the end of each game, you are given the option of posting your score to Twitter, Facebook, or even emailing it to your friends.  Like other Backflip games, this one will also connect with the Open feint network, allowing you to post your scores to the global leaderboard and compare your progress with players from around the world.  That being said, there are perplexingly no Open Feint achievements to be earned here, which was a bit of a disappointment.

NinJump was developed by BackFlip Studios, and is available for free from the iTunes App Store as an ad-based download.  A $0.99 in-app purchase will remove those pesky ads, though I did not find them to be a significant intrusion.  The game is currently available for iPhone and iPod Touch, but I found it played perfectly well on my iPad as well.

Finally, don’t think Backflip Studios is going to just sit back and rest on their laurels or enjoy their success.  They have big plans for the rest of the year, including:

• DYNAMITE SURFING
• DR. SHOCKER
• a soon-to-be announced game based on a cult film
• RAGDOLL BLASTER 2 (one of my favorites on the iPhone) for iPad