Recently upgraded in the past week with iPhone 4 Retina graphics, Doodle Jump is probably one of the simplest games I’ve played on my iPhone, but easily the most addictive. It’s the type of game that you can whip out at the coffee shop while waiting on your Grande Mocha-chino or whatever overpriced drink Starbucks is hocking these days. There’s no narrative in Doodle Jump beyond the quest to jump higher. The game puts you in control of the cute little, pea-shooting green doodle creature that has four legs for jumping and a snout for firing off projectiles. The Doodle looks a little bit like Qbert from my old C64 days.

Using the iPhone’s accelerometer, the player can tilt the device to the left or the right to move the doodle around the screen. Tapping the screen in a specific place fires off the projectiles, ultimately for taking out hovering enemies along the way. The Doodle jumps upwards on the screen and the level scrolls vertically as you progress. The platforms are different colors which signify their quality. For instance, brown platforms shatter immediately when jumped upon, blue and gray platforms move horizontally and vertically, white platforms disappear after being jumped on, yellow platforms are timed to explode and navy blue platforms can be moved around by your finger.

There are also randomly placed objects that sit on the platforms to help your Doodle reach new heights. Springs are the most common and are often found early in the level. There are also spring shoes that the Doodle can wear for a short time, a trampoline for extra height, a beanie propeller hat to cover more space, force fields to become invincible, jet packs to quickly race up the level and giant rockets to go even faster. Using any one of these tools to rise faster requires quick thinking when you land. Often times, you will be racing up with a rocket but have to tilt the iPhone quickly to actually find a platform to land on.

In addition, there are plenty of creepy floating Doodles to kill your player and send him tumbling down to the floor. Enemies can be killed with one tiny projectile from the snout, but it’s often difficult to avoid their massive girth. There are also black holes in the backgrounds that suck in the Doodle to end the level. These simply have to be avoided carefully. Also, if the Doodle misses a platform or gets hit by en enemy for any reason, the entire level has to be restarted from the bottom.

There are 7 levels to choose from in the main menu by swiping at the bottom of the screen. They include the regular graph paper, snow covered, Halloween themed, jungle themed, space, soccer and underwater. Each of the levels alters the appearance of the platforms and actual doodles, so it’s a good idea to practice on the graph paper level before moving on. The scoring leaderboad can be tied into your Facebook account and high scores between friends can be compared as well.

Graphics

• The updated Retina graphics are really impressive! The light, playful style of the visuals is even more detailed than before and there’s some actual depth with the 2D hand drawn levels. The varied designs of the levels are hard to find in games that are priced at $9.99, much less 99 cents. Lima Sky did a phenomenal job on both illustrating the worlds and using the accelerometer subtly to alter movement.

Audio

• There’s no music to speak of in the game, but it’s actually easier to hear upcoming enemies and take them out without music. There are also audio effects for the various objects in the game as well as the bouncing sound of the little Doodle. There’s lots of audio minimalism going on in this game.

Conclusion

There are few games on the iPhone / iPod Touch platforms that are this addictive, priced at only 99 cents and offer the amount of depth that can be found in Doodle Jump. I can’t stop playing it and I find myself the center of attention when playing it. Everyone wants a turn and it’s a relatively quick game to pass around among friends. The random placement of objects and variety in the game is also what keeps it completely fresh each time you load a level. I really can’t recommend Doodle Jump anymore than saying it’s easily my favorite game on the iPhone and will likely remain in my gaming stable as the developer is excellent about updating it constantly.

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