Review of Dink Smallwood
Dink Smallwood was released commercially by some independent developers back in 1997. After the initial press sold, the developer was not going to make more copies for sale, so it was released as freeware in 1999, and later the code was released.
Dink is an...odd...game to say the least. The game is basically an action RPG in the style of NES RPGs like Zelda. In fact, imagine Zelda with a few more RPG elements like XP, levels, and three stats, and you have Dink Smallwood, sorta. The first time I burned down a tree with a Fireball spell to reveal a hidden passage that held a heart Container, I felt the Zelda.
In this game, you play a Pig Farmer with delusions of grandeur who is forced by circumstance to be more than he is. You help out a variety of towns, and each time, more of the map opens to you. Eventually, you piece the Edge of the Word at the behest of the king, and eventually find the Big Bad and kill him in the Darklands.
The game looks bad, and I'm not going to cherry coat it. Even in 1997 it had old graphics. I'm warning you now, so if you d/l, you won;t say, wow, I never expected it to be this hideous.
The game's pseudo-midi music is barely noticeable, but one tune I liked, and I would turn it up for that one, and then back down again.
This game has a weird and wicked sense of humor. I laughed a few times. Dink Smallwood is trying to get his bone on, and there are many chances to flirt and ask out the ladies of the kingdom, all to no avail. At the same time, there are some serious events that happen too, and between the laughter and the severe nature of some events, the game feels weird.
The gameplay is okay, but not great. The reach of the character is poor in relation to his weapon, so the actual fighting mechanic is no great shakes. There are bows, swords, and boots that are weapons, and I would have loved a hotkey that allows you to switch between a bow and a sword while fighting, so you would not have to got into your inventory to switch things.
The game is short. I started it and finished it in one day. Granted, that day was a holiday, but still, just one day of play. There is also virtually no replayability to the main game, but there are add-on games that have been added by the modding community, including one Monkey Island...
I don;t want to spoil the game for any who want to play it, so I am steering clear of major spoilers.
One problem with the game was severe backtracking. if you get stuck in the early part of the game, just go to places you've already been to, and then you will find a screen where a character is now doing something, and you unlock the next thing to do.
Note that there are a lot of character development pieces for random characters that have nothing to do with the game whatsoever.
Kudos for having unique monsters (except for dragons) instead of your normal run of the mill monster. Battle for Wesnoth could learn from that.
Anyway, d/l it and enjoy it for what it is worth, a short, action-RPG with a Zelda feel and a weird humor style.
Summary: 2 stars outta 5.