Review: Shark Dash (Xbox Live)

Score:
77%

Gameloft might be getting out the big graphical numbers on Xbox Live at the moment (with Asphalt 7, The Amazing Spiderman, and The Dark Knight Rises), but they've not lost their touch with causal games either. Shark Dash is another physics-based 'throw yourself around' title, but it has been developed with a light touch and a sense of humour.

Author: Gameloft

Version Reviewed: 1.0.0.0

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Shark Dash

Probably the hardest part of writing a physics-based game is to come up with a suitable plot to frame the game. Gameloft's angle with this game is to set it in a bathroom, full of the bath toys that you would expect to find from a child's bath. Given the title of the game, it should be no surprise that you take the role of a Toy Shark.

As the father of the family, there needs to be a disaster to start any story, and here the kidnapping of your wife and child by the evil plastic ducks is the catalyst. So in a fit of rage and anger, you set out to get your family back by doing what sharks do best.

By eating every toy duck you can see.

(Having a good story is also helpful to the reviews writer who's been assigned to your game).

Shark Dash

Storyboarding over, it's down to the game. To control the shark you simply slide your finger back from his body, and let go to make him jump in that direction. Just like the slingshot in a certain avian game, the distance your 'pull back' gauges the strength you put in the jump, and the direction is determined by the angle you create with your finger.

It's all rather simple, and thanks to countless games before it, very easy for users to understand what is going on. One interesting point in terms of the physics is that there is a lot of air resistance on show here. It means that your shark will quickly drop to the ground, and will slow down rather quickly. To be honest, this is perfect and feel exactly like the sort of result you would get if you were throwing a physical bath toy.

Of course you can speed yourself up by falling through a hoop or plastic tunnel, which will slingshot you and speed up your shark through the air or water.

You actually have two main goals. The aforementioned 'eat every duck' is the primary goal, and you need to achieve this to finish a level. You have the secondary goal to collect as many coins on a level as possible, and each level has three tasks to achieve if you want to be awarded three stars. Most of the time these are to capture every coin, use a set number of jumps to complete the level, or do a specific task, but they all add to the replay-ability of the game. Not on a macro level - once you've played through I doubt you'll want to play through again, but with me there was an OCD need to complete all the challenges on each level before I moved on.

Having someone play each level three times in a row, not once, is a quick way to extend the lifetime of a game. It needs to be done with care so it won't feel like grinding, and Gameloft have achieved that with Shark Dash.

Shark Dash

They've also succeeded with some smashing level design. While the first few levels are simply jump and catch affairs, later levels, with bath mats, sponges, tubes, walls to bounce off, plugs to push you back out the water, and more, you get some real Heath Robinson affairs. One jump pushes a sponge, which opens a pipe while you bounce of the wall, into the pipe, which is spun round by the bottle on top of the bath so you can fall into the hoop and accelerate into the plug to bounce you over the barrier... at which point a babel fish falls into your ear.

I think this is what lifts Shark Dash out of the pool of physics games to be something a little bit more polished, a little bit easier to love, and yes something that has a hint of addictiveness that keeps pulling me back to play another level.

Everything works as advertised, with great big primary colour graphics, responsive controls, and is quick to play. There are some nods to extending gameplay, with the requisite XBox Live achievements to shoot for if aiming for gamer points is your style, but the core gameplay works, and everything around it is focused on giving you a good gaming experience.

All that and it's at the lower 99c/69p price band as well. What's not to love?

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