When we last covered Sonic Dash (our review) it was mentioned that it was truly an impressive entry in the Endless Runner genre, even if it did have some issues of compatibility for lower end iDevices. Since then Sega has dutifully updated the game multiple times to ensure ever smoother performance on the oft overlooked iPod Touch 4, a lonely device some other publishers are more than willing to never support (even if their games’ pages say otherwise). At this point the difference on lower end devices is pure night and day, and they’ve even thrown in optional high resolution textures for those of you out there lucky enough to have a top-of-the-line iPad 3 or 4.
They have furthermore honed, and then rehoned again, the random obstacle generation routines so that Sonic Dash is now far less likely to throw unwinnable situations at you that can only be survived by losing your rings currently on hand. On top of that they have added far more ways for players to legitimately acquire the special Red Rings that are needed to unlock the alternative playable heroes – other than simply buying them – such that the game is now, at least for the skilled, infinitely far less IAP greedy than it was at launch. This is especially impressive considering that Sonic Dash has just gone from a pay up front title to an absolute free to download IAP driven release, not the sort of thing one normally expects to see bundled with such a colossal decrease in IAP greed.
Between the improvements to both stability and random obstacle fairness being tacked on top of an already great game, coupled with the fact that it can now be had for the absolutely unbeatable price of free – with vastly diminished IAP greed, to boot – the only reason you could possibly have for not downloading Sonic Dash at this point would be if you somehow harbor a deep seated hated of blue hedgehogs.