The best way I can think of to describe Dollar Dash is as the bastard child of Spy vs. Spy and Bomberman.
The top down, twin stick heist game is a simple but incredibly chaotic affair. Up to 4 players take on the role of burglars all vying for the loot from a robbery. Each must collect the cash either dropped by trucks or found in vaults and take it to a waiting getaway van. The first to collect the allotted amount wins.
But this isn’t just a case of grabbing the cash and running as each player can also use a number of whacky power ups and weapons including cacti, fireworks, snowballs and, my personal favourite, a giant boulder to try and stop the other players and relieve them of their booty.
Needless to say, with the action confined to a single screen and relatively compact maps when playing with a full four players things get incredibly chaotic very quickly. Sometimes this is a little to the games detriment as you can find it difficult to find your bearings. However, on the whole, it’s great fun trying to dodge oncoming attacks while trying to nab as much cash as possible. The cartoon visuals pop with explosions punctuated with ‘Boom!’ tearing across the screen. The games jazzy soundtrack, although nice to listen to, is a little at odds with the anarchy on screen sometimes.
The game has three modes which can all be played online, offline or against bots; the titular Dollar Dash, Hit and Run and Save the Safe.
Hit and Run is basically the death match mode and has the four of you trying to knock each other out for cash prizes. This mode is incredibly fun, probably the most chaotic of all the modes and also the most straightforward.
In Save the Safe players vie for control of a safe, with each player attempting to maintain control of it for a set amount of time. This is the game’s weakest mode as once a player has the safe, thanks to them also being able to still defend themselves whilst holding it, relatively skilled players will have no trouble fending off the other players and winning with almost no trouble at all.
All of the loot you accrue from each game played can be used to buy perks and other items to customise your character, the more you grab, the more stuff you unlock. It’s a nice little system that is designed to keep people playing, although personally, now that I’ve gotten my character looking like Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees lovechild I have little interest in new hats.
The perks and upgrades, on the other hand, should give players little boosts to certain weapons or immunity from certain effects, in theory at least. On paper this would bring a little more strategy to the proceedings. However, in practice the game is just too damn random for them to have any major effect during matches. In hindsight though, this is probably a good thing as it means the game maintains a relatively even playing field regardless of the experience of each player.
If you can’t find anyone to play with or are feeling particularly antisocial you can play against bots. But, in all honesty, I wouldn’t bother if you can help it. Even at the lowest difficulty setting they are somewhat psychotic, bordering on cheap, repeatedly knocking you to the ground and rarely ever targeting the other AI.
As you’d expect the game is at its best when played locally against other players, it’s one thing to knock out a mute player online and make off with their swag, it’s infinitely more satisfying when that person is sat next to you on the sofa, calling you every name under the sun. As such I would recommend Dollar Dash as an alternative to the usual plastic instruments or kart based entertainment found at most parties.
Sadly, despite its charms I still find it difficult to recommend Dollar Dash..Make no mistake, it’s a fine party game but with only three modes of play and a handful of maps there is very little to keep you playing for more than a couple of hours. As such I doubt Dollar Dash will be able to maintain the stable online community it requires in order to remain relevant and enjoyable in the long run.
