How Dare You is a launch game with a charming little scene to kick it off. A fish in a spacesuit plucks a hair off of what I assume to be a kung fu ram. Then the ram goes on a rampage.
It's a fairly good launch game, you can control placement on screen, you have nice rewards for combo kills, and there's a healthy mixture of normal enemies, bosses, and powerups. I like the controls quite a bit, they responded quickly and I didn't have any problems with precise placement. I did get a little frustrated sometimes when I hit the side of an enemy instead of on top (therefore not getting credit for the combo) but that didn't happen particularly often and honestly it did add a little bit of difficulty to the game.
The game went from 'angry monk' to 'unstoppable giant demon' surprisingly fast
The upgrade system is also built fairly well. The lower levels are fairly easily attainable, and there are those big bang upgrades, like enabling double jump and giving you more running power after killing a certain amount of enemies. And the upgrades are balanced well against the game length. However, the end game required too much grinding for my liking. It seemed like I hit a wall for the last round of each upgrade, suddenly it took multiple runs just to afford one upgrade. That should never happen.
And of course your master slings insults at you as you upgrade...
I do think the game should have had more options regarding controls and difficulty. I liked both, but I definitely think gamers should have to choice to make their experience harder or easier. I feel like if you didn't find a sweet spot with this game, you might be frustrated by the lack of settings. Now, as I mentioned, I thought it was well balanced, but I'd still caution players on the hardcore or casual extremes that there isn't much wiggle room in this game. And it's fairly impossible to beat the game without leveling up quite a bit, because your stamina only lasts so long, even if you're able to make a run without getting injured.
I don't know how all those fish got there, but they're all about to get their butts poked
I really liked the fact that the later 2/3 of the game kept things fresh. The first third is standard running and jumping, then you're required to float sideways, changing the available powerups and bosses, then in the first section you're flying up, once again changing the core gameplay significantly. It felt fairly seamless while still adding complexity and layers to what is already a crowded genre. I'd say it does a good job of standing out as a unique way to keep the game fresh.
So if it's not obvious, I recommend this game pretty heavily. It's fun, and even if you don't decide to finish it, I think the game is very solid until you're able to reach the vertical flying section in the game. It gets a little slow there, but up to that point I had a blast going through the game.
Scorecard:
Category
|
Score
|
Time Value
|
8
|
Money Value
|
10
|
Originality
|
8
|
Ryplayability
|
9
|
Fulfillment
|
7
|
Final Score
|
8.4
|
Let me know what you think of How Dare You!
Until next time,
Ryan
Pictures courtesy of Kongregate
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