Suggestion for the developer: Rename this Doodle Goes To Hell.
One of the first Apps I bought was Doodle Jump, the top-ranked iPhone platform game pretty much since its release. First time I played it I couldn’t something so mind-bogglingly simple had a metascore of something like 98 percent. Somehow my disbelief remained through 86 straight games until the numb discomfort of my long-asleep legs proved too much to ignore.
The object of that game, for all three readers not familiar, is to guide your perpetually jumping Doodle up an endless series of hovering platforms using only the left and right tilt of your iPhone/iPod for control. Some platforms have things like springs and rockets that speed your progress, other ledges may erode or simply break. Fall off the bottom of the screen, or hit something like a roving creature or black hole, and your only remaining ascent is to the afterlife.
Mortal players tend to last a minute or two, although games resume at something resembling the skyscape last occupied. The graphics are whimsically cute and there’s several themes, including one newly added from outer space. (I just wasted 20 minutes booting it up with no intent beyond seeing how the new theme looked.)
Which is more time than I’m likely to spend in the future even thinking about Doodle Drop – Ultimate Addictive! This isn’t a sequel. It’s a shameless ripoff by a hack programmer obviously hoping to scam a large crowd of unsuspecting fans. (Note: This app shouldn’t be confused with Doodle Drop by iFlowStudios, an only somewhat meh game with a lower copycat factor and better play value).
Harsh words, to be sure, and Doodle Drop – Ultimate Addictive! isn’t any worse than the heap of other 99-cent App Store turds. But getting sucker punched like this on a beloved game and character means harboring a special kind of resentment normally reserved for (pick one) teabaggers/ObamaCare/Sarahcuda/puppies.
Wow…300 words of hate and none of them providing a clue about the game itself. Shameful when a game can so seriously incinerate the standards of a career journalist.
So, you’re still playing the role of Doodle, who instead of being cute and plump now has a cape tied so tightly around him as to induce max asphyxia. There’s no instructions or options, just a “touch screen to play” message. No worries, the objective is clear almost immediately.
You’re on a set of platforms resembling those of Doodle Jump, only this time they’re scrolling up and your task is to drop from ledge to ledge without falling through the bottom of the screen or being carried off the top. Control is again by tilting your device left and right, and there’s some familiar extras such as trampolines and breaking platforms. A new concept is the “life” meter, which depletes when you stand on platforms with spikes and gradually recharges when you’re on safe turf. Some platforms also have wind gusts, indicated by squiggles, that nudge you off the surface.
It’s too simple and too monotonous too quickly, with nothing else apparent to quest for as you descend. Games are certainly quick, but in this case it’s mostly about frustration and luck since the platforms appear randomly and there’s no opportunity for strategic planning. The highest score is kept, but there’s no online ego boards and no in-game markers showing achievements from previous games as in Doodle Jump.
The fundamental concept of Doodle Drop – Ultimate Addictive! isn’t flawed, as anyone who’s played the absorbing Primate Plunge can attest. But the combination of insipid gameplay and ambush marketing makes this new Doodle suitable for nothing more than dropping in an endless pit.
Score: 2 out of 10 (only because it doesn’t crash)
By Mark Sabbatini
Doodle Drop – Ultimate Addictive! by jiang zhi
$0.99
Platform Reviewed: iPhone/iPod (Requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later)
Category: Platform
Languages Supported: English
Rating: 9+ (Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence)
File size: 0.6 MB
