Agent Dash Review

Man, I do not like Agent Dash. I probably hate it because it’s so good, it frustrates me. I’ve been playing it for days and I still have problems even at level one, but the reasons I keep stumbling aren’t the type to make me try harder. They’re the type to make me go back to Temple Run.

Agent Dash is another endless running game. You swipe to move your agent left or right, make him jump, slide, turn, shoot and collect diamonds to buy power ups. Although he seems to run a tad slower than Temple Run's character, it’s actually harder to see the upcoming obstacles. Maybe Agent Dash himself is too big and blocks what’s ahead, or maybe it’s just unfair.

The most irritating thing is that the ground can be different colors, but you can’t really tell when the track ends in one lane. There’s water next to a dark ground, so it doesn’t look like it’s a hole you have to avoid. It just looks like different shading. So I’m not dying because I’m unskilled. I’m dying because I just couldn’t see. That’s not fun, it’s just cheating.

It would be one thing if you could just memorize the course as you go and just learn a sequence of taps, but it’s randomized so that won’t help you. There seem to be more alternative paths than Temple Run. Every other screen has a left or right option, whereas the alternates in Temple Run seemed more rare.

I actually have the hardest time just going left to right. Turns, jumps and slides are easier. Just picking which lane to keep Agent Dash in is important. If you stay right and there’s a cliff, you might not have time to get all the way to the left. Then there are the accidental swipes that make my agent shift right into a hole. Give me a break. I obviously didn’t mean to jump off a cliff.

You keep your diamonds from every run so you can just play over and over again until you accumulate enough diamonds to buy power ups. Maybe I should just keep running for diamonds and buy enough power ups so I can actually get somewhere in the game. Like killing boars to level up, but I don’t have time to do that when there are other awesome games out there.

The graphics are great, with cartoonish characters and bright colors (in the irrelevant parts like the trees and sky. When it counts, the colors are deceiving). It kind of looks like Mr. Incredible running through the jungle. The music is peppy and catchy in a pseudo “Peter Gunn” way. It’s also perfectly fine to turn off the sound and play silently. It also has a good sense of humor with the load screen messages.

It’s a simple pick up and play game, and easy to start over every time you die. I guess it’s addictive in that I kept wanting to try again and get further. It’s very frustrating though. It's free, so you get what you pay for. It’s really popular so there’s a certain skill set that loves it. Shame that skill set doesn't include me.

App Store Link: Agent Dash for iPhone & iPad | By Full Fat Productions Ltd | Price: Free | Version: 1.1 | 29.0 MB | Rating 4+