Bandango
06-17-2009, 01:08 PM
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/GoldenSandlewood/DRT.jpg
Sometimes I don’t want anything to do with story. Sometimes, abstraction merely masks lameness. Sometimes, suspending my disbelief and overlooking little flaws ruins an entire experience. While searching for this week’s pick, I found games that fit all these ‘sometimes.’ One game could hardly be called finished, one was convoluted and vague, and one was a tempting choice even though it sucked. But there was one commonality between all of these prospects: none were any fun. And considering last week’s Little Wheel, I figured I should pick something more game-y. Something challenging. Something fun. Then I stumbled across Dino Run, a game I played before, loved for fifteen minutes and forgot about forever. Well, this time I loved it for nearly an hour. I needed a cigarette afterward.
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/GoldenSandlewood/DR2.jpg
Dino Run by PixelJAM is a 2d sidescrolling escape game. You play a tiny little dinosaur born in the wrong era, the end of the Mesozoic to be precise. There you are, snatching a couple eggs, minding your own business, when BAM, the big one hits. Consider it your starting gun. The next seven levels are spent racing headlong through a pixelated, soon to be immolated prehistoric world. Your little dino will run the length of brontosauruses, hitch rides with pterodactyls, scamper through subterranean shortcuts and dodge wayward boulders. Behind him the whole time: a pyroclastic firewall that would make Mt. Vesuvius jealous. Honestly, I haven’t been this exhilarated by a game in a long time. Barely escaping a black, roiling mass of death really gets the blood flowing. When that firewall catches up to you without overtaking you, you’ll see what I’m talking about. On top of it all, the game looks great and runs smoothly. Fun music too.
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/GoldenSandlewood/DR1.jpg
The breadth of features in Dino Run really surprised me. There are dozens of standalone time trial maps that can be purchased through a collectible in-game currency. In addition to that currency, your dino will find eggs and eat up critters. Doing so accrues DNA, which is used to upgrade your dino stats at the end of each stage. There’s even multiplayer. It’s sort of fun, but as soon as someone starts to lose they quit, so you might as well just play the time trials if you really need that extra dino loving. Honestly though, the seven level challenge mode didn’t really leave me wanting more. I think that’s a good thing. Also, you might want to try it on easy.
Dino Run is:
-fast like Sonic used to be.
-a dinorama.
-pretty, expansive, and full of expert touches.
Play it here-
http://www.pixeljam.com/dinorun/
Sometimes I don’t want anything to do with story. Sometimes, abstraction merely masks lameness. Sometimes, suspending my disbelief and overlooking little flaws ruins an entire experience. While searching for this week’s pick, I found games that fit all these ‘sometimes.’ One game could hardly be called finished, one was convoluted and vague, and one was a tempting choice even though it sucked. But there was one commonality between all of these prospects: none were any fun. And considering last week’s Little Wheel, I figured I should pick something more game-y. Something challenging. Something fun. Then I stumbled across Dino Run, a game I played before, loved for fifteen minutes and forgot about forever. Well, this time I loved it for nearly an hour. I needed a cigarette afterward.
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/GoldenSandlewood/DR2.jpg
Dino Run by PixelJAM is a 2d sidescrolling escape game. You play a tiny little dinosaur born in the wrong era, the end of the Mesozoic to be precise. There you are, snatching a couple eggs, minding your own business, when BAM, the big one hits. Consider it your starting gun. The next seven levels are spent racing headlong through a pixelated, soon to be immolated prehistoric world. Your little dino will run the length of brontosauruses, hitch rides with pterodactyls, scamper through subterranean shortcuts and dodge wayward boulders. Behind him the whole time: a pyroclastic firewall that would make Mt. Vesuvius jealous. Honestly, I haven’t been this exhilarated by a game in a long time. Barely escaping a black, roiling mass of death really gets the blood flowing. When that firewall catches up to you without overtaking you, you’ll see what I’m talking about. On top of it all, the game looks great and runs smoothly. Fun music too.
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww294/GoldenSandlewood/DR1.jpg
The breadth of features in Dino Run really surprised me. There are dozens of standalone time trial maps that can be purchased through a collectible in-game currency. In addition to that currency, your dino will find eggs and eat up critters. Doing so accrues DNA, which is used to upgrade your dino stats at the end of each stage. There’s even multiplayer. It’s sort of fun, but as soon as someone starts to lose they quit, so you might as well just play the time trials if you really need that extra dino loving. Honestly though, the seven level challenge mode didn’t really leave me wanting more. I think that’s a good thing. Also, you might want to try it on easy.
Dino Run is:
-fast like Sonic used to be.
-a dinorama.
-pretty, expansive, and full of expert touches.
Play it here-
http://www.pixeljam.com/dinorun/