Dunk’N Dash: White House Run is an Android game built on a low-budget by a one-man-band that’s not ashamed to be a lowbrow piece of fun. The game hopes to lend some much needed lighthearted entertainment to the 2016 Presidential Election race. It puts you in control of “an Ape” that has three votes, and there are four Presidential Hopefuls that are looking to secure one of your votes. The aim of the game is to stay away from these candidates for as long as you can, and the longer you last, the more soft balls that you’ll acquire, which can be used at the end of every two levels to throw at the biggest loser out of the four and hopefully land them in the drink. Let’s take a closer look at this one, shall we?
Much like other games on Android, users will need to download Dunk’N Dash: White House Run from the Play Store. There’s also a free version available. Once the game is installed, they’ll be able to open the game and launch it. There are a number of options to access from the Main Menu, including one to view the Intro.
The Intro is pretty funny actually, but it doesn’t do much in the way of telling you how to play the game, something that I found a little confusing throughout my time with Dunk’N Dash: White House Run.
Playing the game is actually pretty easy. All you need to do is to tilt your device, however I was a little off-put by whether or not I was supposed to focus on anything. The answer to that would be the meter at the bottom which is supposed to represent soft balls and the more the meter fills up, the more of them you’ll have to play with at the end of every two levels.
There are also PAC chests that you need to collect before your opponents, but of course these are often scooped up by the Presidential Hopefuls before you. Where Political Satire is concerned, the gameplay doesn’t really offer that much aside from the voiceovers that appear to be soundbites from the candidates involved. Where the real satire comes is in the animations at the end of every two rounds, such as this fairly blunt yet amusing one aimed at Hillary:
It’s this part of the game that lets you dunk one of the four candidates into the water, but you need to hit the moving target first, of course. This is a really simple part of the gameplay, and not only does it feel basic, it all looks very basic as well, but the developer makes no promises where graphics are concerned.
Again, this is where a lot of the satire from Dunk’N Dash: White House Run is found, and some of these animations can be very funny, indeed.
While the tilt gameplay could be considered good fun, it’s pretty basic and there’s not much in the way of challenge here, aside from the fact that the candidates always seem to find a way to get close to you.
Overall, Dunk’N Dash: White House Run is a lowbrow, low-budget game that might not have the production values as many other titles out there, but it’s good fun. It’s the sort of game that will certainly appeal to some users, and undoubtedly those that enjoy their fair share of satire. Having said that, the game itself isn’t that great, it’s confusing figuring out just what players are supposed to do, aside from just move around and avoid the other characters. There’s little substance to the game and the graphics are pretty bad. It’s clear that this was designed with much lower resolutions in mind, as the text and graphics do end up looking quite blocky and blurry here. Which is a shame as any game that pokes fun at Donald Trump is worth taking a look at. With some better graphics and such on offer, this would be a much better game, but as it as it stands, this is clearly game that will appeal to certain players, and those certain players should find some fun in the game. I’m not sure I like the Ape reference, but that could be a personal choice more than anything here.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – No doubt about it, this is a speedy game and it runs fine on practically any sort of device that people want to run it on.
- Theme (3/5) – Despite some amusing sound bites, there’s not a huge amount on offer in terms of graphics and presentation. Put together by one man with the aim of being a quick, lowbrow bit of fun however means graphics weren’t a priority.
- Features (3.5/5) – Gameplay is undeniably simple, and there’s really not much of a game here to begin with, but it will appeal to some players, and it can become fairly addictive.
- Overall (3.5/5) – Dunk’N Dash: White House Run is a game that was designed to be controversial, or at least a little bit tongue-in-cheek and it certainly achieves that. It will get raised eyebrows and whooping laughs from some, that’s for sure.
Pros
- Works on practically any smartphone out there, with no need for anything powerful or whatever.
- Will offer some users some much needed entertainment for the 2016 Presidential Race.
- Simple gameplay will appeal to everyone, no matter their age or what sort of games they’re in to.
- Animations of the candidates offer some pretty funny satirical moments.
Cons
- It might be a low-budget, single man team of a game, but the graphics could do with a facelift.
- Ape reference might be considered a little too much for some players.
At the end of the day, Dunk’N Dash: White House Run was never going to win any awards for game design or looks, and that’s okay. Developed by one person with a low-budget in mind, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t look its best. Instead, what we have here is a game that’s good fun for a little while and will certainly help bring some light relief to one of the most controversial Presidential races in recent memory. At the very least, it’s worth giving a try to see how much fun it can be.