Iphone Essential: Monster Dash

Created by the developers of Fruit Ninja, Monster Dash is another iPhone game I never see myself deleting from my Phone. This simplistic yet hardcore game has you barreling through rooftops, jungles, and other scenarios while avoiding obstacles like mummies, spikes, and the dreaded walls of death, which is what I like to call them. Halfbrick knows what gamers want to do with their iPhone, easily boot up a game during short periods and quickly hop out if necessary.

Monster Dash shares the same principles as the known Adult Swim game Robot Unicorn Attack. Your character constantly runs in which all you control is the attack and jump button, which are virtual buttons but have yet to fail on me in any instance. Graphics look nice and switches scenarios every 1,000 points you score, you might start in the rooftops one instance and running though the jungle the next. The longer you go, the quicker things become which ends up being more of a reactionary twitch than skill. Not necessarily a bad thing but I’ve had a couple cheap deaths where I couldn’t do anything to avoid my demise. My best was around the 4,300 but the leaderboards has one fellow over 12,000; a number I never see myself achieving.

Your weapon starts as a generic blaster but their are a handful of cool weapons to use, which consists of a machine gun, machine gun jetpack, motorcycle, and electric gun. The Jetpack and Motorcycle are my personal favorites. With the Jetpack, you can use it to hover through part of the level while destroying everything underneath you; I’m always sad to see my ammo deplete. The best though is the Motorcycle, which you hop on and are virtually indestructible besides those dreaded walls. Neither enemies nor spike can hurt you, just run them over.

This is a game I can easily recommend at only .99 cents. I have enjoyed both Halfbrick games tremendously and hope they continue to develop for the iPhone. Monster Dash earns my iPhone Essential for this week.