Game of Phones: Every week I’ll pick a game for iOS or Android that’s perfect for long journeys, the commute or just when you want to switch off from the outside world.
Almost everyone has played Doodle Jump at some point in their lives, whether it’s a fleeting go on someone else’s phone to prove that it really can’t be that hard, or crouched over it furiously compelled by the movement of that tiny little hand-drawn alien.
I wonder though how many of us have downloaded it recently? The very nature of our smarpthones means we pick things up, get bored and then just delete them, never to see them again. With Doodle Jump, I believe this is a mistake.
Yes I’ve deleted it many times before, but every six months or so I find myself in need of a game that’s utterly devoid of depth. Doodle Jump is that game.
The premise is simple: tilt your phone to move the little alien as it leaps from platform to platform avoiding aliens, wormholes and all manner of obstacles in his infinite quest to reach the top.
Maybe there is some deep metaphor here about why it never reaches its destination, but in truth the destination never really matters. What matters is that you get a higher score than you did last time.
You’ll start off confident, almost overconfident as you absolutely nail the first few attempts. Then, ever so slowly, the game will sink its claws into you and the long grind will begin. You will fail, a lot.
If you get bored of the original version, the games developers have been steadily adding new themes with new monsters and new obstacles to punish you with.
Ultimately you’ll get bored of Doodle Jump again, but that’s an inevitability that shouldn’t put you off downloading it. This game was made for delayed trains, being a passenger stuck in traffic or just 20mins sat on the sofa.
It asks nothing of you except complete and undying obedience and the price always feels like a bargain. Normally at this point I would say that there’s a hidden depth to it, but honestly there isn’t, and that’s the best thing about it.
Doodle Jump is available to download on iOS via the App Store for £0.49 and for free (with ads) on Google Play.