Label: Mirrorsoft
Price: £7.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Graham Taylor
All that bounces is not boring. Dynamite Dan II is as full of bouncing sprites as any game I've ever seen, and yet it remains defiantly exciting and original. How can this be?
The secret is partly that one bounce is not like another and the assorted sprites (I'd call them whacky if it hadn't become an insult) in DDII have been animated with skill and imagination. Each has its own movement pattern such that it seems to interact with the backgrounds and with the others. For example, one flying bird-type thing seemed to be afraid of another bird-type thing since it dashes off screen whenever the latter appears. Some sprites crawl along the ground, some fly, some drop unexpectedly on you.
What entertained me about DDI was its introduction of a new type of central hero. Dan himself looks like something out of Brideshead - he looks as though he is faintly appalled at having to take part in an arcade game. Dan is back, still faintly incongruous with his snooty expression and quiffed hair.
DDII is also enormous and amazingly varied. There are eight different kinds of playing area each choc-full of colourful detail and imaginative touches. There is a jungle section that looks like Sabre Wulf with very detailed jungle scenery. Though the game is set on an island, other sections look like futuristic junk piles, or off-shore drilling platforms. There are 192 screens divided evenly over eight islands. On each island is a record and a jukebox. Dan must put the two together and play the record, then find and refuel the Zeppelin on which he arrived which will take off and carry him to the next island.
On the final island Dan must find the last jukebox and blow it up - he gets three minutes to get back to the Zeppelin before the whole thing explodes.
A gem of a game. It may seem on first glance just another bouncy-bouncy collect and dodge offering, but in fact DDII is a Rolls Royce among such games. Beautifully constructed, stylish, professionally produced and of little details that give it a long playing life.
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