Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Sonic Dash (Android)


Another endless runner, this time with a Sonic theme to it.  Actually, Sonic fits this kind of game so it has potential to be a good one.  Sadly, it isn't that addictive or fun, it doesn't provide enough of a unique twist to keep you coming back and put it one step above all the other good endless runners (Temple Run in particular).  One thing that I always didn't like about Sonic is that even if you have painstakingly acquired heaps of rings, you can potentially lose all of it by just getting hit once by an enemy.  The loss of rings is still the case here, the difference being that you don't get any chance of getting some of those rings back coz Sonic just keeps running onwards.  Occasionally, you get chances to "bank" those rings (permanently keep them).  Why?  It's because they are in-game currency for you to buy power-ups and the like.


This is all standard affair, then there's the "premium" currency in which you supposedly can still earn in-game, but it's so rare that it might as well not be as it costs something ridiculously high to purchase things like an additional character.  Of course, there are also in-app purchases, being a free game and all, it pushes those in-app purchases hard onto the player.  Then there are full screen advertisements frequently after each session but it's forgivable since they're not intrusive and are one tap away from being closed and ignored.  Onto the controls, they are not as intuitive as it might first seem.  You have to swipe left and right on a three lane runway which makes it awkward when you have to switch two lanes and jump/roll at the same time.  The controls also causes some cheap deaths when indestructible objects forces you to change two lanes in quick succession while you're running super fast.


These cheap deaths are by far the biggest annoyances of the game, sure, you'll recognize it with practice but it's a big factor in turning away players who have just started when they constantly get hit by some out of the blue.  However, there's more.  Impossible situations arise when multiple obstacles are placed right in front of each other across all three lanes.  Example?  There'll be spikes which require you to jump but right behind it, with no landing space, is a bridge which requires you to roll.  Therefore, you cannot jump or roll to get through it, you can rely on the "dash" function which makes Sonic temporarily invincible but you have to have the gauge full first.  There are also boss battles, well... in truth, I think there are only two.  I wouldn't say they are well-known and popular antagonists from the rich history of Sonic (only Zazz and Eggman makes an appearance).


Sadly, both of them are limited to the same style of attack, Sonic dodges their projectiles and then just tapping the screen three times for three homing attacks and that's it.  Yet you have to face them again and again especially when you just want to dash.  If they wanted to include the same repetitive nature of bosses, then they should have made this runner level based instead of having the random element it has now.  A nice feature is that the landscape can change (seaside hill, beach or a dock) which makes it more visually interesting (but you'll be spending most of the time at seaside hill).  The graphics are nice and looks great.  Character models are good and the game runs smoothly (taking note it's also dependent on hardware).  There are missions/objectives which adds an extra element of play.  Overall, a fairly bland and uninspired game which won't hold your attention for long.

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