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Games which offer endless possibilities as to how far you can go have always interested me.  This is probably the reason I was so obsessed with the popular flash games Icy Tower and Dolphin Olympics 2.

Lima Sky’s Doodle Jump takes the same concept of climbing to endless heights and spins it in a way which is suited perfectly to the iPhone platform.

The concept of Doodle Jump is simple enough.  Jump and climb as high as you can whist avoiding enemies and hazards.  Simple concepts usually makes for simple games, which favors Doodle Jump as it’s very pick up and play for a few turns, then go back to whatever you were supposed to be doing.

Controlling your surprisingly cute character is done all with the accelerometer.  Tower climbing games on the iPhone like Doodle Jump have come across the issue of the controls being either too sensitive or too slow, but that’s not the case for this title. Doodle Jump, although it may feel a little slow, corrects this with being able to jump ‘across’ the back of the screen to come out on the opposite side.  This makes some of the harder jumps in the game a little easier to manage with the ability to effectively teleport across the page.

Doodle Jump‘s simple art gives it lots of personality.  Your ‘doodle’ looks like it’s been taken from an old scrap book as do the game’s monsters.  This scrap book feel is carried to the back drop of the game which appears to be a note book with the various rips and tears fitting in perfectly to both the games design and art direction.

Although the sound effects may be a little annoying, I can’t really fault Doodle Play as they can easily be turned off allowing users to play their iPod music.  Comparing your scores with friends and users around the globe is done very cleverly through a ‘Family height chart’ design.  User names (world, friends or none at all) are scribbled in to the side of the playing field and are visible as you jump.  It is devilishly addicting to beat your own and other’s heights.

At its surface, Doodle Jump appears to be another standard tower climbing game… and it is, but with a creative art style and an innovative high score display, it will keep players jumping for their lives only to fall gracefully back down to earth for many lunch breaks to come.

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Doodle Jump deserves a 7/10