The Dink Network

Dink Smallwood at the City of the Dead

April 5th, 2008
v1.00
Score : 6.3 fair
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metatarasal
Bard He/Him Netherlands
I object 
The first horror DMOD in the history of DMODs!
Well, that was the idea anyway. "Dink Smallwood at the City of the Dead" isn't really scary in any way, but it has it's charms anyway.

It all starts out when Dink finds out that his father is possibly held captive on the island of Kalahar. Dink being who he is obviously heads out to rescue his father, but he doesn't realize that zombies are there to stop him. That is at least the story I read in the original announcement of this DMOD. After starting this DMOD though little evidence suggest the presence of any story whatsoever. There is no introduction, you're just dumped onto a screen with Dink saying: "Let's see that house above" And that's it. There are some generic people wandering about the screens who are apparently zombies. It is left to the player to decide what that means.

Well, it doesn't mean it is scary that is for sure. The music used gives an atmosphere of epic defeat rather than lurking danger. Something that is confirmed by the distinct lack of hidden danger in most of the DMOD. Some sound effects would have done a great deal to improve this, but they aren't used. (Even though suitable sounds are included in the download for some reason...)

So this DMOD is not scary and has hardly any story, so is it any good at all? Well... it has a special atmosphere to it. It isn't scary, it's tragic. There is a sense that this town is dieing and you are their only hope. (Not that the story actually confirms this, but with so little story given who knows?) Furthermore the map is generally well done as are the visual effects (If you forget about the dull zombies).

Though the scripts in this DMOD are generally good it still really suffers from careless scripting. When you are exactly following the story as you should the scripts work fine. But the moment the player starts doing the unexpected the scripts are showing their weaknesses. For example if the player is smart enough to save the game while the clock is ticking to get to the gate in time the player can load the game and have an infinite amount of time! There are quite a few of these annoying little bugs. Having said that, some of the scripting used in the game is of very good quality. For example the moment where a guard is chasing you into the forest is really nicely done.

So it isn't a bad DMOD for sure, but it could use a major update in the future. It generally lacks polishing especially on the storytelling part. If the final will be a more polished and more extensively tested DMOD I will definitely enjoy playing it.
6.3