The Dink Network

This is a D-mod about a slayer, the slayer Gorbac, his tribe is always being attacked by a group of pillbugs, giant pillbugs that he must stop.

*Best download of july 2005*

This is a lot better than Dink Bigwood. Indeed, the game has a sort of indescribable style, like Secret of Pariyaza, but is dragged down by many flaws and bugs. Also, really bad gameplay.

Style: 8
The dialogue is interesting, the decoration is sparse in some places, but mostly quite well done. Some things are scripted, although I noted at least two annoying freeze bugs. It's fun to play as a slayer. There are some good new sounds, and well placed graphics, mostly taken from other dmods. THe music is nothing special, but it isn't annoying. The intro was pretty awesome, and the bits immediately following it (for instance, the television.) I guess that's where most of the style comes from, along with the amusing notes strewn throughout the game. The English is... less than perfect, but it's almost always clear what the author means, so that isn't a problem.

Gameplay: 3
Just bad. The fighting is *way* too easy; the only source of difficulty in the game is the fact that things are hidden in illogical places. Also annoying are the many screens with invisible borders. This is not a long list of minuses, but it's a pretty devastating list.

On the plus side: there's a good spell similar to the pain spell from LoT. Also, some of the quests are sort of amusing, although never especially novel. Really, one of the annoying things about playing RPGs is that you find yourself doing the same quest over and over with only minor alterations. Go kill a monster to get an item, go talk to a guy to get an item, etc. etc. What a dmod author has to do is make these quests somehow challenging or fulfilling (or, barring that, at least interesting.) Here, it helps that you always have a clear goal (hunt the pillbugs), and almost all of the requisite actions are in service to that goal.

Story: 8
Confusing but good. I can't explain why the story is good, but it is, and it actually sort of matters to the gameplay.

Overall: 6.2
(-.1 for bugginess)
It might actually be a little worse than this... but it could be worthwhile to download just for the intro and initial parts.