Review: Inspector Gadget's Mad Dash - Go Go Gadget Skates

Overview

He can skate across rooftops with gadget skates, he can swing across gaps with gadget arm, and can hover around with gadget umbrella. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Inspector Gadget the eccentric bionic bumbling detective. Inspector Gadget’s Mad Dash is a new casual endless game in the same vein as Canabalt, but combined with Hook Champ.

Features

You skate across rooftops, and tap to jump between buildings as you try to rescue your niece Penny from the clutches of Dr. Claw. Along the way you’ll use your gadget arm to swing across gaps, and gadget umbrella to hover over fans. Game Center is included for online high scores and achievements with the achievements unlocking part of Dr. Claw’s never before seen face. Plus there is unlockable comic, art sample, and sound board by collecting Gadget coins scattered about rooftops.

The Good

The game is fast paced and simple to pick up and instantly start enjoying. Just tap when you come to a gap, and you can hold your finger to change the height of the jump which is essential. You’ll reach gaps where you need the gadget arm where you tap and hold to swing, and then reach gaps with fans where you need to tap and hold for gadget umbrella. There are gadget coins throughout the game, and they play an integral part to your score. As you collect them you build up your score multiplier, and it keeps going up unless you stumble on a bird, banana peel, or miss a jump. Your distance is multiplied by the combo so you can travel less with a large combo and score much more than traveling a long way with a low combo. There are many different obstacles along the way including trains, electric lines, and even Dr. Claw dropping and firing bombs at you. You get three lives so that your first mistake doesn't make you restart the whole game, and you can continue through. The game offers such a great balance to keep you wanting more as soon as you lose. The game has great intrinsic replayability, and there is so much unlockable content it keeps you coming back as well. It’s great having the Game Center achievements tied to something in game, and in this case revealing Dr. Claw’s face. Then the coins earned in game can unlock a full comic as well as art and sounds. The well made game mechanic is improved by the Inspector Gadget theme which is based on the cartoon TV show. The art style is great with everything running so smoothly, and the animations perfectly represent Inspector Gadget as each jump is a little goofy, and then witnessing gadget arm and umbrella. The intro soundtrack from the TV show is included as the background soundtrack, and it’s such a great theme song.

The Bad

It would be nice to have some checkpoints in this game. There are main points you reach where Dr. Claw attacks, and it would be great to be able to pick up at one of these points when you restart the game. One minor concern is that you need a ton of gadget coins to unlock each thing in the game with each individual comic page, art sample, and soundboard sound cost anywhere between 100 and 5000. The Inspector Gadget theme song is great, but it becomes repetitive as it’s the only thing played in the game in a continuous loop.

The Verdict

Inspector Gadget’s Mad Dash is an outstanding casual endless game that offers tons of fun for a relatively simple game. The variability of actions and obstacles coupled with the humor and style of the Inspect Gadget theme breathes new life into the genre. There is so much to unlock to keep you coming back for more, and there is never a dull moment. Go Go Gadget finger to access the App Store to pick up Inspect Gadget’s Mad Dssh which is a should buy for $1.99.

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