|
PsyDash
.: By:
Corn Bread :: Device
used:
iPAQ H3650
:: November 13, 2001 :.
Boulderdash was definitely one of the
most popular games back when I was a kid. Despite not being as popular as Pac-Man or
Space Invaders, it nevertheless attracted quite a following. Boulderdash lovers can now
rejoice! Psyclone Games has just
released a Boulderdash clone in the form of
PsyDash.
In PsyDash, you control an ant whose main
objective is to explore the various underground levels and collect as many
diamonds as possible. Once you have collected enough diamonds, you can exit to
the next level. It's not as simple as it sounds though, for there are a few hazards
such as boulders, enemies (who are represented in the game as “glowing square thingies”) and falling diamonds that you should look out for.
The fun in playing PsyDash is figuring out how to use the various hazards in the game to your
advantage. For example, you can strategically dig so that the boulders fall on top of
your enemies, thus destroying them. You can also use your enemies as walking
bombs to reach those diamonds that are placed inside indestructible bricks. In
addition to the various hazards in the game, there is also a time limit for each
of the levels so it is imperative that you finish each of the levels as fast as
possible while being able to collect as much diamonds as you can so you can rack
up some serious points. At the end of the game, your score will be posted in the
high score table.
Controls are limited to the hardware buttons only, and I wish that they had included an
option to enable stylus control for I had difficulty moving the ant around the
screen due to the
iPAQ H3650's clunky directional keypad. However, I had no problems
controlling the ant on my
EM-500's awesome d-pad. The animation looks a little
jerky in PsyDash since everything in the game moves on a per square basis
instead of free flowing, but the jerky movement is only cosmetics and a minor
drawback that doesn’t detract from the gameplay.
I love this game in terms of its gameplay, but the graphics and sound effects seem
a little boring. This game looks and sounds like it was made for an older video
games system. The graphics in PsyDash look very old
and outdated, almost as if they
came from the 8-bit days of my NES, and the sound effects are nothing to
write home about. I’m not saying that the graphics and sounds are awful - it’s
just that, after having got used to playing games of a very high graphical and
audio quality on
my Pocket PC, it was hard to go back to staring at simple graphics. Having said
that, the graphics and sound still do an adequate job and there might well be some people out
there who actually prefer the “retro” look of PsyDash. It still frustrates me to
no end that this game doesn’t have it own volume control - it's very irritating to
have to go to the system settings of the PPC just to adjust the sound. [Editor's
note: PsyDash
is, of course, by no means the only offender in this respect.]
Some of the levels of the game are really very
challenging (which can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your
temperament!) but the absence of
a save game and continue feature will definitely frustrate novice players.
It gets very irritating to have reached a very difficult level just to be killed
and then have to replay the easier levels all over again. It would have been nice if
there was a level selector so I that could instantly jump to the last level I wasn’t
able to complete.
Also, I feel that the game's levels are not
particularly well-balanced as even the
earlier levels can be too difficult, meaning that novice players might be turned off by it.
Another problem with a game like PsyDash is
that once you have completed all of the
levels, there's no real incentive for you to play through it again. I hope that the
developers have plans to release a few add on levels to give PsyDash
extra longevity.
There are a lot of puzzle games out there that are much better than PsyDash, but
I think that Boulderdash fans should give this game a try as it’s a faithful conversion
of the classic game we grew up with. I also urge puzzle gamers who are not
familiar with Boulderdash to give PsyDash a try
- after all, there is a reason why Boulderdash has such a strong following. PsyDash is available for MIPS and
ARMS Pocket PC's, and is being sold for $8.00. It requires 500KB of storage space and can
be installed in either the main RAM or on a storage card.
Pros:
Cons:
-
No in-game volume control.
-
Controls are not customizable.
-
No save game, level select or continue option
-
Average graphics and sound effects.
|
PocketGamer.org
score: |
 |
.: Game category:
Action
& Arcade Games :: Reviews
Index :.
|
