Review: Doodle Jump

Posted by Kevin in Apple, Featured, Portable, Reviews | 2 comments

Doodle Jump's icon

Doodle Jump is yet another perfect example of using technology to it’s absolute full effect. The iPhone/iPod Touch game, developed by Lima Sky.

The game uses cute artwork with innovative gameplay coupled with insanely easy controls (tilt the screen to move from left to right and touch to shoot enemies). The creates, as touted by the developers, an INSANELY ADDICTIVE experience. And they’re not lying. It really will suck you in. You’ll be so enthralled by beating your high score that you’ll stay on the bus just for another 2 stops to keep playing.

Rockets, Monsters & Steve Jobs' name are just some of the pop ups in the game!

The art style, as you can imagine from the name of the game, is that of a school kid’s pencil doodles. It’s a charming style that works very well on the iPhone. Rather then over-stylising the game and washing it out, the style works fantastically, especially in the madness that occurs within the game.

The game plays by having your character bounce and jump from platform to platform. Green ones are fine to jump on, but brown wooden ones will collapse, making you fall to the lower platforms, or off the world all together! Some platforms have springs that will catapult you through the world faster. When jumping around you tilt/lean your phone or iPod to the left or right to guide your character to the platforms while he jumps around. You’ll come across some nasty enemy creatures too, who, if you touch them, will kill you. Dead. You can avoid them or shoot them by tapping the screen in their direction.

As you move through the game you’ll come across more monster types, more wooden breaking platforms and moving platforms to add a little difficulty. If you fall down by missing a platform and don’t manage to land on a platform below you, you will fall to the bottom and end your game. Once you’ve cleared a bit on screen, those platforms are erased, so falling below the bottom of the screen means you won’t be able to recover yourself.

The point is to get a high score. A lot of games have this kind of mechanic already, but to toss in an extra e-penis bragging rights moment, Doodle Jump offers online worldwide ranking with your name/username of your choice!

You can shoot enemies with little ball things from your trunk-nose!

For a mere 79c from the App store this game is a steal and will provide hours of entertainment on-the-go. It once again solidifies the iPhone as a “proper” gaming platform. Check my video of my poor skillz below…