The Dink Network

Escape

July 30th, 2009
v1.00
Score : 9.5 exceptional
death.gif
This is an excellent dmod. Dink gets tired of being in the repeating cycle of farm boy becoming hero (literally and metaphorically), and seeks to escape from the game.

The Good:

Loaded with tons of humor in the style of the original Dink adventure, hilarious 4th-wall-breaking commentary, and funny interactions with unlikely NPCs (er... objects).

Gameplay is very accessible, and fighting doesn't require too much effort (with one exception, see below). The plot is also cleverly designed with lots of clues towards the right choices to make.

The ending brings the story full-circle in a final humorous twist.

The Bad:

There is a choice Dink has to make early on in the game, that pretty much decides whether or not he will complete the game. This *is* clued so that the player can figure out the right choice; however, making the wrong choice isn't immediately obvious, and you only get to pick once. One of the wrong choices actually gets positive feedback later on when you receive a gift from a certain ... fruit ... (a different one from the right choice), but it turns out that it's impossible to beat the final boss once you get to this state: it just moves too fast and strikes too hard for this to be practicable. In other words, you've no idea you made a wrong choice until you're 95% through the game, and then you realize that you have to restart since all your earlier saved games are overwritten by now.

Overall:

Except for that tricky choice that decides the outcome of the game, this is an excellent, funny dmod that you'll not regret playing. Everything else is very well crafted, making this definitely one of the best dmods out there. I wish I could give it 9.9, but have to subtract some points for that design flaw.