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Paper Climb takes the familiar endless-jumper/flyer/runners gameplay that we’re all too familiar with and turns it upside down. Now instead of testing your timing reflexes (I.E. Doodle Jump, JetPack Joyride), Paper Climb checks your fingers’ dexterity.

The goal of Paper Climb is to climb up a tattered piece of newspaper. These tatters form grip holds for your man (who’s also made out of paper) to continuously climb up until he falls. It’s not so much the concept of climbing that is innovative but how you (he) climbs. You’ll place two fingers on the screen, one for each hand, and move on up the screen, always making sure that one of you fingers (or virtual hand) maintains a grip. At times you’ll need to create a boost for yourself and you’ll need to use a third finger to control a leg to give you a bit more height. This works remarkably well and is one of the most innovative touch controls tailored for the iPad.

Many dangers await and certainly one of them is letting go and being the cause of your own demise (I can’t count how many times I died because my fingers got tied up). It was never Paper Climb’s fault when I plummeted. No siree…I was careless. But besides tripping over my own finger placements, many more hazards await: origami birds, falling rocks, to even post-its that only let you grab onto them for moments. I’m sure that more hazards lie in wait and that’s part of the reason why I keep going back for “one more climb…”

The other reason why I continue to play Paper Climb is that it is so gosh darn entertaining. The newspaper that you climb up has so much written on it, at times you can read (while climbing) lame joke columns, your game stats and sundry other news tidbits. While all of this may sound minor, it’s these small details that’ll suck you and keep you climbing.

The Bottom Line: 9/10 (Super!)

Paper Climb pushes originality by putting a new twist on endless survival games and backs it up with a superb control scheme.