REVIEW: Doodle Jump for the iPhone

Over the past week I started working at theiphoneappreview.com. That website is dedicated to reviewing iPhone applications (duh...), and while publishing a review over there requires me to ask the application developer for a small fee, not every developer is going to be able to afford that. Luckily, I've got PLAY READ WRITE, which is dedicated to gaming in general, and while the iPhone may be struggling to find it's spot in the gaming community, the games are maturing and bringing new gameplay and charm to everyone who downloads and plays them.

At the same time, it's hard to know exactly which games to buy. You can be sure that your $0.99 (a pittance, really) would be well spent on Doodle Jump.

In fact, after downloading a promotional copy of the game, my girlfriend Jenna quickly picked up my phone and played around with it. "The sketched doodles make the game not just fun to play but fun to look at as well."

The light hearted sprites in the game gave Jenna cause to pick up the iPhone and jump right in. After about 5 to 6 rounds she didn't want to give my phone back. Within the next hour she had hopped on the App Store on her phone and bought the game for her own iPhone.

In fact, she's playing it right now. She's discovered how to climb quickly, stomp on the floating enemies, and rocket pack to a score even higher than my own.

Doodle Jump doesn't sacrifice any gameplay with it's cartoon graphics either. It has tight controls and addictive gameplay. You tilt the iPhone to move your guy around the screen and land on each platform on your way to a high score. Floating enemies haunt platforms the further you go, as well as disappearing platforms, moving platforms, and other hazards that I won't spoil. Believe me, it gets challenging.

But that challenge certainly lends the power ups a hand. When you snag a rocket pack, a propeller hat, or several spring jumps in a row, you can give yourself a high five, because those bonuses become really empowering. Plus, the developers have smartly let the power-ups scatter sparsely around the map the higher you get.

In a way, Doodle Jump is a refreshing lift in spirits for me. I've thought for a while now that the iPhone couldn't possibly compete in gaming as a platform, but if the creativity, ingenuity and quality of design that Doodle Jump employs can be used in other games then there's hope for the little machine in your pocket.

You can get Doodle Jump at the App Store for $0.99. Just click HERE!

PLAY READ WRITE / REVIEW SCORE: 5 OUT OF 5