Game Design II

Developer: Tom Fulp, Dan Paladins
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/254456

Dad n’ Me is a flash game that took on the tried and tested formula of old arcade side-scrolling beat-em-ups without bringing anything new to the table. There isn’t much of a story in this game and the whole game is about this pair of father and son assassins who went into town to get rid of these hoodlums who were all kids. Yes. You get to spank, whack and kill kids in this game. Fun. You take on the role of the child assassin and the objective of the game is simply to kill all the kids in town as well as get rid of the gangster head. Obviously, humour is a big part of the game and it worked really well.

This is a short game as it only consists of 1 level. It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete the whole game. The level plays linearly, with you starting at the left side and progressively moves to the end of the level at the right side. Certain items on the screen such as dustbins, lawnmowers and other hazardous objects can be picked up and thrown by the character. 

Controls in the game is very similar to traditional beat-em-ups like the street of rage or metal slug series. You use the arrow keys to move the character around the screen and there are only two other buttons which do light and heavy attacks respectively. The controls of the game are very responsive easy to get used to. Dad n’ Me also features a well implemented combo system. Mashing a combination of both the light and heavy buttons in the game will cause the character to unleash a chain of attacks that does more damage to the enemies. This system adds on to the gameplay as it allows you to experiment and play with different combinations to see what works well. Much of the game’s enemies have a really simple AI routine that does nothing except to move towards you to get beaten to a pulp. The game was probably created this way to accentuate the humour of the game although there are a few exceptions such as the bully, ninja kids and the final boss who will attack you on sight. The ninja kids and final boss who are only found at the last portion of the game brought about an unbalance to the difficulty in the game. They are much harder to defeat compared to all previous enemies and are introduced so late in the game which caused the difficulty to get rammed up so significantly in the last portion that it became inconsistent.

The most memorable aspects of this game are its graphics and sounds. The whole of this game is done in bright colourful digitally painted vector graphics. The characters in the game animate fluidly and are wonderfully designed with a cartoony look and feel. The backdrops are nicely drawn with very bright, cheery colours and details. Slight depth can also be seen with the use of parallax scrolling on elements in the background. The graphics in the game works very well as the very cartoony look also contrasts with the violent nature of the game. The music in the game is quirky, fun and upbeat and suits the theme of the game immensely.

While the game doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, it had implemented the old formula well and is one that is very enjoyable. It’s short too and works as a great stress reliever during a break session.

Rating : 6.5/10

Weiwen