At its core Dinopunk: The Cacops Adventure is a classic 2D side scrolling platformer. Developed by The Dude Games, and published by Dojo System, it will be available on PC, PS4 and PS5.
In it you play as an amphibious dinosaur who, when an unscrupulous ninja steals their egg in the middle of the night, takes chase to retrieve it’s property. To do so you must navigate a series of levels, shooting your way through various enemies using your water power, which you recharge by taking a dip, and collecting coins along the way by breaking obstacles and killing enemies.
After defeating your first boss you receive a surfboard which allows you to boost across bigger gaps, and opens up a surfing mini game, which I have to say, didn’t do a whole lot for me.
The levels start off simple but increase in difficulty as you tackle laser blasting cops and hoards of ninjas, and the boss I fought was challenging enough, but not so bad that it made me want to rage quit. The coins that you collect can be spent in the shop for skill upgrades to tackle tougher enemies. There is of course, bearing in mind that I was playing an early demo version, room for improvement. The later levels got a little bit repetitive, as did the boss fight.
The art design is simple but effective and the sound effects of water splashes from your gun and laser blasts help to create a nice ambiance as you work your way through the levels. But the real stand out is the soundtrack, and its chiptune style music made me think I was standing in an arcade in the 80s.
And, it’s the nostalgia element that I really responded to. These side scroll platformers were what I was playing when I first started getting into video games, and if you’re of a certain vintage, it will no doubt bring back memories, while younger gamers might not be so impressed. Either way, it was fun to go back in time for an hour.
As for whether it’s worth the price, I can’t say, at the time of writing no release date or price was available.
