Stylish Sprint Review
PROS
- Polished 2.5D visuals; varied areas and unique background music.
- Plenty of unlockable items and modes.
- Smooth platforming controls; easy to recover from minor mistakes.
CONS
- Item placement a little too random.
- Wings power-up prone to dumping you off below the currently available platforms.
- Extremely high item prices.
VERDICT
Stylish Dash provides fans of endless runners with a gorgeous looking and smooth controlling plaformer with plenty of content to unlock, but it feels more like a collection of gimmicks than a cohesive and addictive title.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
These days, if you're going to make an endless runner you better have a gimmick that will drag people in. Stylish Dash by playus soft seems to take this idea to heart, though building a game almost entirely out of gimmicks might be taking things too far.
Tap to jump; tap mid-air to double-jump; tap and hold a third time to fly - by now this sort of control scheme is pretty much ingrained in the iOS gamer's consciousness, but it's great to see the addition of a 'flying' system as this gives players a chance to not only save themselves but to reach power-ups that are out of reach. Oh yes... the game's 'randomization' system is fond of throwing items out of your reach and you can expect to see that precious bonus star or speed-boost floating high above or even BELOW the platform you're on. Dashing has also been added to the game, giving players another option for traversing long gaps and to break through one-hit-kill obstacles that pop up now and then.
It's hard to criticize the visuals of Stylish Dash as they are exactly that - stylish. The use of a 2.5D scrolling world works wonderfully as it's paired with flashy special effects that make you feel like every minor achievement is worthy of praise. Unfortunately the variety of its levels is limited to essentially re-skinning the world, though each area adds additional 'quests' that can be used to earn points that can then be spent on aesthetic upgrades for your character. Two alternative game modes are also available, though one these feels eerily similar to an old-school hand-held LCD 'racer' - something I'd rather not be reminded about.
Stylish Dash is an ultra-polished runner that provides a lot of incentives for players to keep coming back for more, but beyond the gimmicks it lacks the same addictive charm of other similar titles. Definitely worth grabbing if you're after something a bit flashier than the usual 'retro' titles.
Screenshots
$0.99
