Dynaman
| title: | Dynaman |
| url: | link |
| download page: | link |
| license: | trial |
| genre: | Arcade Games |
| developer: | Draconis Entertainment |
| platform: | Windows |
| release: | 2003 |
| features: | sound |
| last edit by: | Richard |
Description
Dynaman is a maze-style arcade game, similar to Pac Man Talks. In Dynaman, however, there's not just one maze, but there are five (!) mazes (stacked on top of each other) and you can warp between these yourself. Your job as "Dynaman!" is more or less the same as its predecessors: to clear all five grids by picking up all the electrons that fill each maze. Once you clear all the grids of all the available electrons, you complete that level and begin the next level. Each new level adds more difficulty by faster gameplay and adding more interaction using a variety of objects.
Because you are not alone in these mazes! First there are the Spark Brothers, four sparks (similar to PacMan's ghosts) that wander around the game grid. You have to do your best to avoid them because otherwise you'll lose. However, there is a way to fight off the Spark Brothers and that is by using Capacitors. These power up items will give you a single charge that is useful against the sparks. Only one brother can be neutralized with each power charge. You use Capacitors by moving over them in which case they get dicharged and you get charged up. The Capacitor will gradually be charged again within a couple of seconds.
Interesting gameplay is provided by Open Circuits. These are breaks in the game grid circuitry. When you pass an Open Circuit you'll fall through. Open Circuits will appear from time to time. They can be fixed using Coil. Occasionally a coil of wire will appear and bounce around the game grid. Grab them to repair Open Circuits.
The controls are fairly easy. You use the standard cursorkeys to move around. The cursorkey-up lets you move forward and by pressing it once you'll continue in that direction untill the corridor you're in ends. Pressing the left and right cursorkey results in 90 degree (straight angle) turns. The cursorkey down lets you flip Dynaman 180 degrees, so if you were facing North, you'll now face South. You can stand still by pressing the End-key.
An interesting feature is the use of Turn Requests. It is often not easy to turn down a passage in time while traveling at high speeds. Therefore you can already press a cursorkey in the direction you are anticipating and when the passage comes up you'll turn will be made automatically.
Upcoming passages are expressed using a panning sound. So if a passage is coming up to your left, you'll hear a specific signal panned to your left. Vice versa for right. You also have the option to make this sound pan from the centre to the direction the passage is. This for the sake of clearity.
You are able to warp between the different mazes by pressing the right Shift-key or the right Control-key and then pressing the cursorkey-up to move to the maze above you and the cursorkey-down to the maze below you.
Another interesting feature is Board Scanning. When you press the Home-key you'll start scanning the board, from left to right and top to bottom. Sounds indicate where there are still electrons left. This only works for the current maze you're in.
Every third game features a bonus round in which you get a short amount of time in which to clear the board as fast as possible. If you clear the board you'll recieve a lot of bonus points.
Dynaman features three difficulty levels: 'easy', 'medium', or 'hard'. This mostly concerns the behaviour of the Spark Brothers and the Coils. It also features 3D positional audio when using a quadraphonic setup which adds a lot to the immersion and the navigation of the game. An extra handy navigation feature is the ambient sound of the Dynamo, which indicates the centre of the grid. And last but not least you can compete with other people using the ESP Score Server.
The latest version of DynaMan, version 2.0, returns with a whole host of bug fixes and new features. No update patch is available for Dynaman because of the extensive nature of the changes a patch would be unreliable. Existing DynaMan players should uninstall their old version and download the full game from Adora Entertainment's Download Center. New features include:
- The ability to save a game in progress
- Check how many lives DynaMan has left by pressing 'L' during game play
- New sounds
- A second set of grids (the Power Grids) which offer even more difficulty and challenge to the game
- Support for the new ESP Score Server
- Many bug fixes
- Improved functionality and bug fixes to the DynaEd grid editor
The DynaMan Grid Creator has been re-introduced with a few minor bug fixes. It is now offered as a separate add-on for DynaMan. The DynaMan Grid Creator allows you to create your own maze grids
for DynaMan to explore, fighting off the fiendish Sparx Brothers and munching electrons! The DynaMan Grid Creator can be used by registered DynaMan users only. Download the DynaMan Grid Creator through this link.
To find out more about Draconis and their games, see The draconis page on the Audiogames archive site.
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Updates: entry 2 Feb 22 and description 2 Feb 22