Thursday 23 January 2014

App Review No. 33 Doodle Jump

Strong Points:
Nice, simplistic gameplay
Cool, doodle based graphics
Lots of themed stages
Different areas have slightly different gameplay
Except for the ninja stage, there are no upgrades, making it purely skill based
Good, pick up and play style
Very addictive!
Online multiplayer adds competetivity

Weak Points:
No extra modes
No regular updates
Upgrades are very expensive


In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
World Wide: 6th April 2009

Controls:
Tilt device to move character

The pick up and play style was made popular by mobile devices and Doodle Jump is one of the best at it. The premise is exactly what the title tells you: you jump across a doodleistic (technical term) background.

The controls are as simple as the graphics, tilt your device to turn the doodle left or right in order to jump onto different floating platforms. These platforms come in a variety of types be it normal, stationary ones to ones that crumble after one touch to ones that move across the screen. On these platforms are also powerups (in the loosest possible sense) such as springs, jetpacks or propeller hats.

Each stage has a different graphical theme (basic, space, snow, jungle, Christmas, underwater, football, Easter, Halloween and ninja). This changes the background, the graphics of the platforms and powerups as well as the physics and graphics of your shot and the enemies you shoot with them. For instance, in space you have meteor like shots that fire straight up whereas in the snow themed level you fire snowballs that fall in an arc. You can kill enemies by either shooting them or jumping on their heads but hit anywhere else on them and you die.

On the ninja-themed stage, you can collect coins that let you buy different costumes and powerups in the store. At first I thought this ruined the purely skill based aspect of Doodle Jump, but as the upgrade system is only for one stage its fine. However, you will be hard-pressed to get the upgrades unless you are very good at the game as the upgrades are expensive and the coins are hard to get.

There is also an online multiplayer which lets you connect with people around the world in order to compete against each other to get the highest. The gameplay is spilt over both screens which means that one player can be a lot further than the other one. However, if you die, you automatically lose so it's a bit of a risk and reward system.

Overall the game is a very good and very addictive, simple pick up and play game but it would be nice if we got some completely different modes such as one where you use enemies as platforms or something to add a bit more variety to the game. A must buy if you want to have a good time waster.

Rating: 85%

Goodbye for now, Harry

Update: it's football fever (or is it soccer sensation?) in Doodle Jump with the quarter-finalists Belgium and Costa Rica being added to the soccer (or football) theme!

Update: hoist the anchor! Unfurl the sails! Stretch your four legs! There be treasure here! Thar she blows! And isn't it a beauty? A new Pirate theme! Arrr! Rope ladders and cannons are here to stop us from getting our treasure! But, no worries, the cap'n's got a treasure map (that can be used to find gold)! One day I'd like to be captain, which I can do now by buying my way up to the top (from cabin boy all the way up to captain!). Yo ho ho etc.

Update; arrr! Pirates Leaderboard ahoy! Also, a treasure map pointing to iOS 8 compatibility has been dug up!

Update: ho ho ho! Doodle Claus is coming to town and he brings 12 Days of Gifts, starting on December 25th! Also, you now get powerups more frequently on the Christmas theme but there is a catch; some of them are frozen in ice blocks! To get at the powerups inside, just smash the blocks with snowballs or simply jump on them! Merry Christmas, everyone!

Update: start off the New Year with a bang and six new space theme achievements!

Updates:
Performance optimizations
Share your score with Kik
iOS 9 compatibility
Sound bug fix
24 days of gifts

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