Dinkanoid
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- Author(s): Mike Snyder
- Categories: D-Mod, Miscellaneous, Romp
- Downloads: 179
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A Dinky version of Arkanoid: The King of breakout games!
It's an excellent port. While Dinkanoid can't compare to the original Arkanoid, it's still a lot of fun. The difficulty is excellent, it has most of the same powerups as Arkanoid, and plenty of interesting levels. It's one of a few arcade dmods that's excellent by itself, not just when looked at as a port to the Dink engine (a great technical achievement). As a matter of fact, this is the ONLY arcade dmod that has managed this really well at the time of writing this review.
That's not to say Dinkanoid is flawless. Hell, the day I can't think of at least three times as many things to criticize as praise I'll stop writing reviews. =) Maybe the biggest annoyance was how angular the path of the ball is. You can never shoot the ball straight up or in a slight angle, it just goes northeast and northwest, which is dumb and sometimes makes it difficult to nail all the bricks. The ball, paddle and bricks are also fairly large, which makes the levels small, and the lowest bricks are very close to the paddle at the beginning of each level. The beginning is always the most difficult part, although this is true with many breakout games.
Dinkanoid is also a bit... uninspired. It's very consciously trying to emulate Arkanoid on the Dink engine, without introducing any new powerups or cool features. It does not even have all the features of the original Arkanoid. There are no enemies, nor an ending monster, which disappointed me a lot. Adding enemies to an Arkanoid game on the Dink engine would probably be the easiest part of the whole thing. I want to battle Dink's gigantic head, dammit!
All in all, Dinkanoid is a great Arkanoid clone that wouldn't do badly in a competition with other breakout games, an unparalleled achievement when done on a limited RPG engine primarily designed for the merrily beheadment of ducks.
It's an excellent port. While Dinkanoid can't compare to the original Arkanoid, it's still a lot of fun. The difficulty is excellent, it has most of the same powerups as Arkanoid, and plenty of interesting levels. It's one of a few arcade dmods that's excellent by itself, not just when looked at as a port to the Dink engine (a great technical achievement). As a matter of fact, this is the ONLY arcade dmod that has managed this really well at the time of writing this review.
That's not to say Dinkanoid is flawless. Hell, the day I can't think of at least three times as many things to criticize as praise I'll stop writing reviews. =) Maybe the biggest annoyance was how angular the path of the ball is. You can never shoot the ball straight up or in a slight angle, it just goes northeast and northwest, which is dumb and sometimes makes it difficult to nail all the bricks. The ball, paddle and bricks are also fairly large, which makes the levels small, and the lowest bricks are very close to the paddle at the beginning of each level. The beginning is always the most difficult part, although this is true with many breakout games.
Dinkanoid is also a bit... uninspired. It's very consciously trying to emulate Arkanoid on the Dink engine, without introducing any new powerups or cool features. It does not even have all the features of the original Arkanoid. There are no enemies, nor an ending monster, which disappointed me a lot. Adding enemies to an Arkanoid game on the Dink engine would probably be the easiest part of the whole thing. I want to battle Dink's gigantic head, dammit!
All in all, Dinkanoid is a great Arkanoid clone that wouldn't do badly in a competition with other breakout games, an unparalleled achievement when done on a limited RPG engine primarily designed for the merrily beheadment of ducks.
An arcade game that resembles the classic game Arkanoid.
Storyline: There indeed is a story. The Zolan Empire is ready to invade earth. But before they can do that, the soldiers have to be trained, and this is done in a holographic simulator room of blocks. Since the only threat to the invasion would come from a guy named Dink Smallwood, the Grand Admiral Ranis named the simulator room Dinkanoid. Now, once you start the game, there is not much of a story left of course, but it is nice to know who you are playing and what you are doing: you are a Zolan soldier, preparing for battle.
Music: There is some music, but the only time when you hear some (and those are sound effects) is when you have reached a new level.
Good: It is well worked out. The screen is divided into two parts: on the right is a science fiction picture, on the left the actual game. The bricks that come in all kind of colours and in different size are new. Tiles to decorate the inside of houses are used for the background. The statusbar is used, as is the bar for the score (normally experience points). Just as in the original Arkanoid you have to use the paddle to control the ball. The ball will hit a brick and it disappears. When you have hit all bricks, the round is over and you begin with a new one.
Just as the classic Arkanoid, this is somewhat addictive too.
Not so good: The rules state that you have to start by pressing Ctrl in order to launch the ball, but the ball will launch itself after a couple of seconds. So when I reached a new level, I took a small break and when I got back I lost all the paddles. When you load a saved game, you start with all six paddles though, so it is very easy to finish the game.
Overall: A very well worked out arcade game.
Fit for: If you like Arkanoid, you will like this one too.
Storyline: There indeed is a story. The Zolan Empire is ready to invade earth. But before they can do that, the soldiers have to be trained, and this is done in a holographic simulator room of blocks. Since the only threat to the invasion would come from a guy named Dink Smallwood, the Grand Admiral Ranis named the simulator room Dinkanoid. Now, once you start the game, there is not much of a story left of course, but it is nice to know who you are playing and what you are doing: you are a Zolan soldier, preparing for battle.
Music: There is some music, but the only time when you hear some (and those are sound effects) is when you have reached a new level.
Good: It is well worked out. The screen is divided into two parts: on the right is a science fiction picture, on the left the actual game. The bricks that come in all kind of colours and in different size are new. Tiles to decorate the inside of houses are used for the background. The statusbar is used, as is the bar for the score (normally experience points). Just as in the original Arkanoid you have to use the paddle to control the ball. The ball will hit a brick and it disappears. When you have hit all bricks, the round is over and you begin with a new one.
Just as the classic Arkanoid, this is somewhat addictive too.
Not so good: The rules state that you have to start by pressing Ctrl in order to launch the ball, but the ball will launch itself after a couple of seconds. So when I reached a new level, I took a small break and when I got back I lost all the paddles. When you load a saved game, you start with all six paddles though, so it is very easy to finish the game.
Overall: A very well worked out arcade game.
Fit for: If you like Arkanoid, you will like this one too.
Ohhh... an Arkanoid clone... which is waaaayyyy too fast on my computer. An interesting demonstration of a powerful manipulation of DinkC.
***PLOT: I found it rather lame, to be honest. I suppose that it is better than nothing though, which is the usual case for arcade-puzzle games like this. Because the story is not much a critical point to the overall effect of this dmod, I'll let it pass. ***7.0***
***GAMEPLAY: Terry is correct about it being frustrating. But i feel that the frustration is really due to the game engine's ever apparent datedness and is no fault of the author's. Other than being too fast, the gameplay was actually rather pleasant... Better than most Arkanoid clones I would say... The only major complaint that I can give is that the ball can only reflect off the bricks at either a 45 or 90 degree angle, which was slightly annoying at times, especially when trying to get it to hit the bricks in the corner.***9.0***
***SOUND:Very little, and I thought that the title music was too repetative. ***6.5***
*** Interesting game that tries too hard to make Dink into Arkanoid. Next time just script it from C++, avoiding the strenous limitations that the Dink Engine baffles us with. ***7.5***
***PLOT: I found it rather lame, to be honest. I suppose that it is better than nothing though, which is the usual case for arcade-puzzle games like this. Because the story is not much a critical point to the overall effect of this dmod, I'll let it pass. ***7.0***
***GAMEPLAY: Terry is correct about it being frustrating. But i feel that the frustration is really due to the game engine's ever apparent datedness and is no fault of the author's. Other than being too fast, the gameplay was actually rather pleasant... Better than most Arkanoid clones I would say... The only major complaint that I can give is that the ball can only reflect off the bricks at either a 45 or 90 degree angle, which was slightly annoying at times, especially when trying to get it to hit the bricks in the corner.***9.0***
***SOUND:Very little, and I thought that the title music was too repetative. ***6.5***
*** Interesting game that tries too hard to make Dink into Arkanoid. Next time just script it from C++, avoiding the strenous limitations that the Dink Engine baffles us with. ***7.5***
My... It was horrible. It is impossible!! I almost killed myself in frustration, and with a fast computer, it really doesn't help.
Goods: Really captured the true art of what I call ARKANNOYED for obvious reasons...
Bad: Hard, too fast, long wait before each level, can only save on first level (how handy!)
Conclusion: Awful. I don't want it. Get it off my system, now. NOW! DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS FOR YOUR OWN MENTAL HEALTH!
Goods: Really captured the true art of what I call ARKANNOYED for obvious reasons...
Bad: Hard, too fast, long wait before each level, can only save on first level (how handy!)
Conclusion: Awful. I don't want it. Get it off my system, now. NOW! DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS FOR YOUR OWN MENTAL HEALTH!
An arcade game using the Dink Engine. A bit cumbersome to move at times. But this is about the best example of what the Dink Engine can be used for... that is pretty amazing.
Total conversion? Almost... everything except the side bars is either new or modified.
Overall 8 out of 10
Total conversion? Almost... everything except the side bars is either new or modified.
Overall 8 out of 10
Dinkanoid is pupposed to be based on a game called Arkenoid.
I've never heard of it, although I used to play a game I'm assuming is just like it called D-X Ball at my grandmother's house.
What to do:
----------------
You have to smash bricks just like on D-X Ball.
Good:
----------
Almost an exact replica of D-X Ball
Bad:
-------
Way too fast on newer computers.
Save feature doesn't work properly.
Overall, this is a really fun game, but I prefere D-X Ball.
I've never heard of it, although I used to play a game I'm assuming is just like it called D-X Ball at my grandmother's house.
What to do:
----------------
You have to smash bricks just like on D-X Ball.
Good:
----------
Almost an exact replica of D-X Ball
Bad:
-------
Way too fast on newer computers.
Save feature doesn't work properly.
Overall, this is a really fun game, but I prefere D-X Ball.
This a very special game, which has a very different game engine than most Dmods. I didn't even reckognize it was Dink when playing it!
GRAPHICS 8.5: The graphics are almost all new, and fit perfectly in the game.
SOUND 7.5: A bit dissapointing, the midis I mean. The sound effects were okay.
GAMEPLAY 9: ABSOLUTELY great and VERY original concept (for a dmod anyway). One little problem, it goes a bit fast on Pentium 400 and higher.
LASTING APPEAL 9.9: I'm still playing it! I'l never grow bored!
TOTAL: 8.9
GRAPHICS 8.5: The graphics are almost all new, and fit perfectly in the game.
SOUND 7.5: A bit dissapointing, the midis I mean. The sound effects were okay.
GAMEPLAY 9: ABSOLUTELY great and VERY original concept (for a dmod anyway). One little problem, it goes a bit fast on Pentium 400 and higher.
LASTING APPEAL 9.9: I'm still playing it! I'l never grow bored!
TOTAL: 8.9
