Don’t Touch: Doodle Run Review

Run Slow

Don’t Touch: Doodle Run, the game where you don’t run but slow down, is brought to us by Alexandre Casual Games. The game has a simple concept, don’t let anything touch you. As you run through different scenarios, various doodles will cross your path, and you’ll have to slow down to avoid bumping into them. That is all there is to the game.

Strengths

First, the good things. I will give Don’t Touch: Doodle Run one whole point because I liked the art style and the music. I found the personality of the doodle-style animation quirky and amusing. Additionally, the sound effects were gold. Every time you bump into another doodle, it will give a pained cry that entertains me more than the gameplay itself. It led me to believe the game was actually fun in the first place.

You can customize the skins for your doodle on the run. These range from simple colors to eyeballs and monsters. You can purchase skins with in-game coins or real money. Besides, you’ll get others from the seven-day check-in and by reaching milestones. If your main interest is collecting them, that might keep you interested.

If Doodle Run, Why Doodle Slow?

For a game that consists of avoiding obstacles, it does a poor job of retaining your attention enough to notice them. The gameplay is quite dull. You tap the screen to slow down, and that’s it. The rate at which it slows down is frustrating as well. It’s not a sudden stop nor a fast deceleration. You just go a little slower which doesn’t feel much different from your normal speed. The trick is to slow down way before you reach the obstacle because you won’t decelerate fast enough for it to make a difference up close. However, that means you’ll be slowing down while nothing interesting is happening. This contributes to the feeling of sluggishness.

The main goal of any endless runner game is to last as long as you can. So, it stands to reason that the most important thing is to keep the player focused. Don’t Touch: Doodle Run is not exciting enough to do that. I don’t feel a sense of pressure while playing. On the contrary, it feels like they’re asking me to slow down a game that’s already slow. There’s nothing novel. The scenery and obstacles all feel the same even when they look different. You get boosts from time to time like shields and second chances. Nonetheless, all the shields in the world are powerless against my blatant lack of interest. A fly on the wall was more entertaining. You can also buy the boosts, but as I said, it makes no difference because I’m not interested enough to care.

As much as I loved the art style and sound effects, that’s not enough to make the game good. Not even the rewards, which consist of skins, boosts and money to buy skins and boosts, are enticing enough to make it worthwhile.