Dodo Master Review – Doors, doors everywhere!

Our rating:

By: Semir Saleh

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2014-08-22

Developer: Dodo Master

Price: 2.99

User Rating:

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2D platformers have been called old fashioned for some time now but, every now and then a new game rises from the ashes and reminds us of the golden old days of gaming. And Dodo Master is a great example.

Our hero is a Dodo who is being held captive in a rather huge maze-ish dungeon. All her eggs were snatched away by mysterious villains and now she has to escape the area and reclaim her eggs. Dodo Master sees her achieving this in an action packed adventure RPG.

As the game begins, we see Dodo reaching a lobby with countless doors and each door is in itself a new level. Enter a door to get the key to the next one and so on until you find yourself a way out.

Though not as organised, the setup kind of reminds of Swordigo. But Dodo doesn’t have any swords and Dodo Master is not a hack and slash game. Instead, Dodo only has a jump / double jump and a crush down power, which she uses to kill the guards, break open chests and to create paths by smashing flimsy platforms.

The aim of each level is to reach the breezy end on the other side, while collecting as many eggs as you can.

The levels are side scrolling with pits to oblivion, boiling lava, nail beds, pendulous spike balls, rotating thorn barrels, trembling platforms, conveyor axes, oscillating flame torches, stalactite walls and my favorite – the trip-wire traps, which instantly shoots down a board of wooden spikes into your feathers and withdraws with a nerve-cracking creaky noise.

Besides, enemies like crawling spiders, running rats, sworded bandicoots, spell casting skeletons and more are there to keep you from escaping.

Just like Swordigo, there are countless levels in Dodo Master and they are not too easy either. You’ll need to apply accurate timing and a perfect use of double jumping to make through a majority of the hurdles. For instance, some pits are accompanied by crumbling planks, an oscillating spike ball and a spell casting skeleton together and there seems to be virtually no way out.

You’ll need to play each level at least three times to get past and it gets more addictive as you play it. In some levels, there are even simpler hidden alternate routes or shortcuts which can be used to bypass hurdles, at the loss of some eggs or hearts.

I played Dodo Master for two straight hours and I wasn’t bored. I was more surprised to find that I had hardly covered a quarter of the available doors. This game surely has plenty of content to be consumed.

Starting from the beautifully crafted intro graphics, through the typical retro platformer graphics, the visuals are stunning. And believe them when they say “The game is best played with headphones”. The subtle sound effects especially the bassy heart beats and the change in tones for clues can be captured only via a headphone.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Dodo Master. And the fact that there are no in-app purchases to the game, just makes me like it even more. Overall, Dodo Master has become one of my favorites in the platformer genre.

Check out the trailer:

iTunes links:
Dodo Master Pocket (for iPhone, iPod touch)
Dodo Master (for iPad)