Monday, September 11, 2017

Doodle Devil (PS3)


Doodle Devil is the sequel to Doodle God.  Just like its prequel, it was originally a smartphone game for Android and iOS, then ported over to the PlayStation family of consoles and sold at a higher cost.  Doodle Devil features the exact same gameplay as Doodle God, with no changes or improvements whatsoever.  Instead. it focuses on the "darker" things in life, such as corruption, war, weapons and sins.  The control scheme is still reminiscent of touch controls at the main menu, since you use the analogue stick to move a hand cursor to select the options.  For the actual gameplay though, thankfully it translate well to the D-pad and face buttons, such that you can power through the levels quickly once you know which groupings the icons you want are.

Since it was originally a mobile game, the gameplay is simple.  The aim is to combine two elements to create a new one.  Some of the combinations are intuitive such as Corpse + Life = Zombie and Knowledge + Copyright = Money, while others are less so such as Magic + Egg = Dragon and Life + Internet = Cyberspace.  However, not every combination will produce a new element.  If it does, congrats, if they can't, then continue experimenting.  Each element is fitted into a particular group, so finding the icon you want can be annoying when you don't remember the group it was in.  It isn't too much of a problem in the beginning but near the end of the game, where you have 25 different groupings, you might have to enter and exit out of a few in order to find the one you want.  Likewise, while at the beginning it is easy to create new elements, as the game progresses and you get more options, it gets progressively harder to find the correct combinations.  However, there is the option of hints if you are stuck and cannot find a new combination.  Unfortunately, that's all the gameplay ever boils down to so it can become boring very quickly.

Doodle Devil retains the sense of humor in its combinations, such as Sex + Money = Censored, you'll probably chuckle a few times over the course of the game.  The story is even shallower than the original, if that is possible.  You only get a few sentences at the beginning of the game saying that while God created things, the Devil did as well.  This, plus the music, hints at the darker theme of the game.  There are a total of 190 elements to find in total.  This trial and error gameplay will take hours if you play through it blind without any guide.  However, it'll only take an hour to complete the game if you follow a guide (but where's the fun in that?).  Of course, being a PS3 game, it features Trophies and they are all easy to obtain.  Overall, Doodle Devil is a simple game that is exactly the same as the first game, and really doesn't seem to be worth the excessive price tag, especially when there are so many better games for the PS3.

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