Mobile Game Review: Sonic Dash

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's review is on a game that I picked up when my brother started pushing me into mobile games, Sonic Dash.  Sonic Dash is a game where you run endlessly forward, collecting rings and power ups, dodging obstacles and destroying enemies, with a couple of boss fights thrown in for good measure.  You have a total of 16 characters from the Sonic console games, though a few require you to pay real money to get access.  You have seven stages to run through, though 6 of them have requirements to unlock them.  And you unlock them through gathering little animals from the robot enemies, and paying them gems, one of the three currencies this game has, to complete objectives and unlock new stages and characters.  You also have a multiplier that determines how quickly you accumulate points for your high score.

Control: Sonic Dash is perfect for a mobile device; swipe up, swipe down, swipe left and right, and tap to choose things. Tap to dash, tap to use stage starting power ups. No precision required.

Graphical Fidelity: Sonic Dash looks like a modern Sonic game.  All the characters look like they're supposed to, all the stages look like they were taken right out of a modern Sonic title. All the text is large and easy to read.

Sound: Sonic Dash sounds like a Sonic game.  The music feels like it was taken from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and this is no more evident than in both the Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary zones.  They sound like an updated version of their original stage music.

Ads: This is the first game that I'm reviewing that has unavoidable ads.  You get them after every stage before they bring you back to the title screen, and you can get extra ads for things like a revive, doubling your end of run ring count, and for an extra spin on the prize wheel.  But there is no way to avoid the ads so long as your device is connected to the internet.  Unfortunately, I've had instances where the ads crash the entire game, freezing it up and not letting me do anything else and forcing me to quit the game entirely.

Fun Factor: Sonic Dash is mindless fun for when you've got nothing else to do.  It's simple, easy to understand, and can fill up a few minutes here and there when you're waiting on something.

Final Analysis: Sonic Dash is a great game that is unfortunately held back by the ad policy.  If they would let you pay for a way to remove them, I'd say this is a must download for any Sonic fan, but if you find in game advertising intrusive, especially when the ads have a tendency to crash the game, you might want to look elsewhere.  But if ads don't bother you, you'll have a good time. I know I do, despite my issues with the ad policy.