Doodle Jump Review: Nose Balls Have Never Been This Much Fun
| App Name: | Doodle Jump |
| Platforms: | iPhone, iPod Touch |
| Publisher(s): | Lima Sky |
| Genre(s): | platform |
It doesn’t seem so long ago that I became severely addicted to a game that went by the simple title “Snake.” In it, you began as little dash just a few pixels long (presumably a baby snake), and then your task was to chase little morsels around the tiny screen and make your snake grow longer. It ended when the snake’s head collided with any other part of its body. This was before the rise of flip phones, when cellular devices were commonly shaped like small bricks, and getting an “app” meant that you were looking for a new job. But Snake was a fun game, and it was no less addictive in all its colorless, repetitive simplicity.
Doodle Jump offers that same kind of experience, but multiplied by 1,000. Developer Lima Sky has created a game that retains its spot at the top of the charts by keeping things painfully simple, while still finding ample space to add creative touches that make it visually stimulating.
Doodle Jump’s premise: See how high you can get.
That’s really all you need to know . . . Your character is an egg-shaped critter with four legs who goes by the name of the Doodler. It has a long, narrow snout out of which it shoots “nose balls” at whatever gets in its way. But the combat is secondary, because Doodle Jump is a platform game at heart. The iPhone’s tilt controls are used to direct the Doodler as he bounces up the platforms, trying to set a high score by reaching the highest point yet.
But it’s not that simple. Along the way the Doodler encounters a horde of enemies, including aliens, monsters, UFOs, and black holes. It is your job to see these enemies coming and tap the screen so the Doodler will fire those nose balls. But they’re not all stationary enemies. Some hover over a wandering path, causing you to react quickly or face an early death. The black holes and UFOs are particularly bothersome, as you must give them a wide berth or be sucked into their oblivion. You’ll also find some helpful goodies like a propeller hat, jet pack, and springy shoes, all of which will launch you above and beyond the enemies as you make your journey North. There is plenty of this kind of variety in Doodle Jump, and it all serves to keep the gameplay fresh, challenging, and always satisfying.
It’s a rough world out there, and the wise Doodler will keep in mind that even the platforms aren’t always on its side. The white ones will vanish like a cloud after you bounce on them, while the wooden ones have a tendency to snap in two every time the Doodler touches them. Some platforms marked with arrows even require that you tap and drag them so they become within reach of the Doodler’s jumping range. The enemies, platforms, and perks all combine for a well-rounded gaming experience that will keep you tilting, firing, avoiding, and dragging platforms for hours.
Doodle Jump enthusiasts around the world are, no doubt, thrilled that Lima Sky hasn’t backed off since releasing the game. Yes, its gameplay is incredibly addictive on its own, but the updates give plenty of reasons for you to keep coming back to see what’s new.
The standard back drop looks like graph paper, while all the animations are drawn to look hand-sketched. While you might expect this to make it feel cheap, it’s done so well that it adds style and prevents the game from looking dated.
The updates have only made things better graphically. Someone who buys Doodle Jump today will be able to choose among standard, haunted, snowy, and jungle themes.
It’s hard to complain about Doodle Jump, considering that its gameplay and presentation accomplish their goals with flying colors. Any caveats would be related to the themes, and how their individual characteristics can affect the difficulty. For example, the haunted theme is very dark, and while it’s atmospheric, it’s nearly impossible to get as high as you might in other, brighter themes offering more visibility. Also, the velocity of the nose balls coming from the Doodler’s snout is curiously slower in themes other than standard.
Overall, this is 99 cents you will never regret. Doodle Jump’s very existence is a paradox. It is the perfect game to pull out when you’ve got some time to kill; but, on the same token, once you start playing you’re not going to want to stop. And what began as a 30-second interlude between phone calls might turn into you calling in sick to work tomorrow.
Yeah, it’s really that addictive.
Review Score: 5/5
Doodle Jump is currently available in the App Store for $0.99. (App Store Link)
This is a Doodle Jump review article by App Chronicles.
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