We should all know how the App Store works by now. A new game comes out, gains a lot of traction, and all of a sudden the store's virtual landscape is overrun with imitators. Considering how enjoyable last year's Run Roo Run was, it's surprising that the recently released Galaxy Run is one of only a few games we've seen approach its one-tap single screen platforming antics.

It's up to the player to guide a stranded astronaut home via small doses of precision platforming. Each collection of levels is based around a teaching a single mechanic. The first world handles the simple act of jumping over obstacles and spaces. World two introduces the double jump, and later worlds showcase gravity-switching, speed pads, and even old fashioned Pitfall rope swinging.

Each level only takes a couple of seconds to complete. If you die, you respawn at the start of the level, but the timer keeps ticking along. The slower your completion time, the fewer stars you earn. However, if you tap the refresh button after death, the timer resets, giving you another chance to ace the level. This refresh button renders the respawn system somewhat irrelevant.

The jumping itself is handled with a single tap. It's a simple and generally responsive system, although it sometimes feels like you have to hit the screen a little too hard to register a leap.

Often, to clear a spike or land on a distant platform, you need to launch yourself at the last possible second. At times, it almost seems as if your suited spaceman has to run into thin air before he can clear particularly long gaps. It's a strange feeling, but one which generally adds to the thrill of nailing a perfect run. On some of the more maddeningly difficult levels, however, the occasional unresponsive tap can infuriate, breaking the otherwise smooth flow of the game.

Galaxy Run is a epitome of a bite-sized platformer. It has a simple conceit, a silly theme song, plenty of decent content (with hopefully more on the way). Though we did encounter a couple of control issues, they only slightly impacted what is an incredibly enjoyable run-and-jump experience.