Dyna Bomb

Developer: 7 Raven Studios 
Steam Release: May 2016
Hours Played: 2.9
Similar To: Jump Jet Rex / Mega Coin Squad / Mos Speedrun 2 / Storm in a Teacup
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
Dyna Bomb is a casual action platformer that's jam-packed with truckloads of arcade-style action. Donning a jet-pack with an unlimited fuel supply that allows constant and uninterrupted thrusting, and armed with a blaster that fires giant bombs - you'll be thrown into a hostile world of robots, mechs, drones and missiles. Added to the mix will be: the need to collect sparkling gems and gold stars strewn throughout the levels; spikes and saws to be avoided that are out to shred you to pieces; levers to pull that switch off electric barriers that block your way, and portals to warp you from area to area. The controls and movement are super-tight and responsive and as a level-based journey split into bite-sized chunks it's a solid title that's put together extremely well. Your task in each is to reach the exit portal by first finding the ankh-shaped key.
 

BALANCE & PACE
With a countdown timer ticking forever towards zero, the pressure is on from the beginning but the main point to bear in mind is that all hostiles generally follow a set pattern. This means that the more mistakes you make and the more familiar the game becomes, the more you learn. This, in turn, makes the player both more confident and competent and thus transforms the player from a bumbling buffoon at the start to a fearless boss who can smash levels like an expert after a few practice runs. Working out the progressively more difficult routes is only part of the delight the game offers; what adds to the fun-factor is that the sound-effects - be it as you fly through a sea of gems, pick up a nice golden star or demolish a robot with a well-timed fling of a bomb - is all so damn satisfying.  

  
 

PRESENTATION & DESIGN

Dyna Bomb is designed in a simple cartoon-style that comes with a fixed resolution and is thus a very small download that will take up just a speck of space on the hard-drive. It features one of those annoyingly catchy theme-tunes that you can't get out of your head but is packaged with varied tunes for each of its eight worlds. Menus are simple and refreshingly quick to navigate through but this luxury comes at the price of conflicts between the keyboard and Xbox controller which the game cries out to be used with. The latter is virtually useless when used for menu navigation but heavenly when used in the main game. Thankfully, although you'll need to exit the game via mouse+keyboard, this issue is just a mild inconvenience and certainly no deal-breaker. 
 
    

PROGRESS SYSTEM
There is good news and bad news on this front as well. The good is that the progress is presented in an idiot-proof manner that a four-year old could understand. The level-select screen shows thumbnails of eight colourful worlds in a simple uniformly displayed 4x2 grid. Click a world and you'll be taken to a further eight or nine squares that represent levels. When completed you'll get three stars if you collect all stars; a shiny purple gem if you collected all gems; a robot with a cross if you killed all enemies, and a letter P if all these conditions have been fulfilled. The bad news is that a level will only unlock if the previous one has been completed... and you cannot start a later world from its first level until the previous world has been cleared. Obviously this means if you're having trouble with one level - you ain't going any further in the game!
     

CONCLUSION

Fortunately the developers have created an interesting get-out-of-jail-free-card for anyone pulling their hair out over an infuriating level. Remember all those gems you've been collecting? Well, after successfully completing a level, all those gems are banked and can then be used to purchase up to five, one-use only power-ups which you can take into a level with you. Obviously with such things as added time, an extra life or super-charged bombs - it makes completion just a little bit easier. Although it's a superbly implemented system making the game less punishing, just be aware that those gems take a while to mount up - mess up and there may be some farming/grinding in store. For a zippy bit of casual fun that will even run on that last decade laptop, the deceptively simple Dyna Bomb could be the answer.