Welcome Time Wasters!
This week I was planning to bring my review of the series finale for The Last Door. My plans got derailed though when I realized I wanted to dedicate more time to the game than I had this week and decided to push it back. I’ve been running around a lot lately and didn’t have much time at my computer. So like any good time waster, I turned to my phone for amusement. What I found was Sonic Dash.
Sonic Dash is a smartphone game available for both iOS and Android that features the endless-running gameplay found in games like Temple Run and Subway Surfers. The big difference between these games is that this one features Sonic the Hedgehog.
Playing Sonic Dash was a lot of fun. Sure, there are a lot of endless running games out there, but I really felt like this was one of the better ones. The gameplay consist of swiping the screen left or right to make Sonic moves between three different lanes. Player’s can also swipe down to spin and up to jump. Sonic can also enter Dash mode after players have raced for a while. Dash mode makes Sonic invincible and allows him to smash through objects that are in his way.
One thing that Sonic Dash has that I haven’t seen in other games of this type is boss battles. Currently there are only two bosses: Dr. Robotnik’and Zazz from Sonic Lost World. Boss battles are fairly simple. Players have to dodge incoming attacks by the enemies and after a while we be able to jump up and attack by tapping on the boss. Both of the bosses played the same and were really easy to beat.
The main goal of Sonic Dash is to collect as many rings as possible. Rings can be used to purchase upgrades and other items in the game. More upgrades and rings can also be unlocked by completing missions while playing the game. There are also Red Star Rings. These rings are rarer than normal rings and can be used to complete mission early or buy new characters.
Characters that can be unlocked include Tails, Knuckles, Shadow the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Silver the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat. None of the characters play any different, but some do have specific achievements that can be earned.
The one problem I have with Sonic Dash is its heavy use of ads and attempts to make players spend money. Every run finishes with the game prompting the player to either watch a video or go buy an item in the store to be revived. Skipping this part will then show players hints about the game. The problem with these hints is that they are always something along the lines of ‘Go buy more rings in the store!’ Players can finally get back to the game after closing this screen. It got annoying to have to go through all these menus before I could jump back into the game. I understand making money, but Sonic Dash almost feels like it’s demanding money with how often it brings it up.
On a positive note, Sonic Dash has some amazing graphics. I’m not joking when I say that Sonic Dash has the best graphics I’ve ever seen on a smartphone. They are easily comparable to games from the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox era. Also, being that the game features Sonic characters from their Lost World appearance, there aren’t any stupid looking bandages and Knuckles doesn’t look like he skipped leg day at the gym.
Audio in SonicDash is also spot on. Sound effects like picking up rings and hitting enemies are exactly what I’ve come to know from the series and sound great coming out of my phone. The game also has some solid music, though frankly, I can’t claim that I recognized it. Maybe I’m just forgetful or it could be that it comes from Lost World (which I have yet to play).
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Sonic Dash. The game doesn’t really bring much new to the table in terms of gameplay, but what it does what it does well. The boss battle were a nice addition, but were way too easy. While the game is plagued with way to many ads and prompts to buy stuff from the store, its great graphics and audio do a lot to make up for this.
Sonic Dash earns 4 GiN Gems out of 5!