Endless runners are a common thing on Nintendo platforms as of late. They offer simplistic experiences that can instantly hook you, and love to play them to turn my mind off a little bit. This is why looking at Buddy & Me: Dream Edition seemed like a no-brainer. With its beautiful art style, it‘s definitely something I could get behind.

Buddy & Me sees you playing as a kid (male or female) and traveling left to right across a variety of plains. The controls are simple, using a single button to make timed jumps or movements and avoid pits where needed. The goal is to collect stars. The distance travelled doesn't matter, but the precision in movement does. That is a completely different approach for an endless runner to take, and I do really appreciate that. there is a purpose to the stars, as well. By filling up a special bar, you hop on the back of Buddy and fly for a limited time. Here the control stick controls Buddy’s vertical movement as you collect additional goodies. These goodies go a long way to racking up points and gives a great feeling of power.

The flow of movement is everything in Buddy & Me. From climbing platforms to swinging from ropes, it is all designed with flow in mind. Keeping that flow is needed to push forward as you pick up items and special creatures. These will increase movement speed or add valuable seconds to the timerr, ultimately resulting in a better score. Sadly, there isn't really a way to share that score, which will make it feel more repetitive in the long run. Buddy & Me features no direct functions to publish on Miiverse and the title has no leaderboards to boot. Luckily, the game does offer incentives to keep playing through unlockable seasonal levels, clothes for the characters, concept art and more.

Buddy & Me offers some of the best visuals in a Wii U game this year. The animated movie vibe feels right at home on the system and I couldn't get enough of it. Every nook is filled with detail, which really adds to the experience. The game does suffer from some framerate issues and I really hoped that Buddy & Me would have been optimized better. The music and sound effects are extremely pleasant, andTthey help set the correct mood for this whimsical adventure.

Buddy & Me: Dream Edition is one of the strongest endless runners on the Wii U. With fantastic visuals and solid gameplay, it’s easy to get drawn into the adventure. There are no local or online leaderboards, which is a major annoyance and hurt the game’s replay value once I unlocked everything. The framerate drops also hurt the experience a bit. But in the end I just relaxed and enjoyed my time with Buddy & Me. Sometimes that’s all I need.