On November 26th you’ll be treated to a new distance running game in the form of Dino Rush, and I have to say that the game does a decent job of setting itself apart from similar games. You play a little dinosaur that has a series of missions to complete, but it just so happens that you’re always hungry. To keep your strength up you must consume all the fruit you can find, as well as avoid all the other nasty dinosaurs and things like quicksand and lava. You’ll receive various power ups like a spiked helmet, fruit magnet and super-dinosaur suit that will help you in your quest (and are often imperative to your survival).
Control simply consists of tapping the screen to flap your wings – as long as you have energy – and everything else comes from coming in contact with the various items throughout the game. I played this on a 2nd generation iPod Touch still running OS 3.1.3, and I have to admit it felt a bit sluggish to me. That seems to be a growing issue with my device, however, and I would imagine it should run just fine on newer hardware. Despite the slightly less responsive nature of the game, I still felt compelled to keep trying to complete each of my missions.
The visuals are cute, especially when it comes to the main character. Eventually you’ll get to unlock a dodo bird to play with as well. The sound can be quite amusing at times, and there a nice little touches like the main character panting when it’s close to out of energy. The music is decent, but pretty standard jungle fare.
I think Dino Rush has a lot of potential, and is certainly one to keep an eye out for if you’re into distance running games. Just be warned that if you’re running an older device / older OS you might experience some lag issues. Dino Rush is still provides a decent rush in the end.
