The Daily Crumb: DASHKIN Beta Game Review

screenshots at bottom of page

So here we are again. The word and name, 'Brackenwood' is not a new one to The Daily Crumb. No sirry. We've been huge fans since the early days of the online animated series, Brackenwood.
You may be familiar with films such as 'Waterlollies', 'Prowlies at the River' and 'Bitey of Brackenwood'.

The mysterious and speedy character, Bitey has not appeared since the latest released short, 'The Last of the Dashkin' which began to explore Bitey's life and history. Taking a dip further into his growing up on the forest planet.
Go and watch it, although it is the latest in a few short animated films it is a very nice introduction to the world with some beautiful music.

Attempt 1 (Kinda Eggtopic):
Brackensack.
Brackensack was Adam Phillips (Creator of Brackenwood)'s first attempt at a Bracky based flash game.
I rather enjoyed it.
You can still go and check it out here
It has very simple controls, you use the mouse and space bar to effectively keep the 'fatsack' character airborn whilst head butting it.

But now! Look what we have! .. almost.
All of you brilliant people pledged as much as you could for a brilliant game. Your money well.. spent, given.. donated... whatever.

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REVIEW STARTS NOW:

So myself and some other peeps have played the BETA of Dashkin, the yet to be released Brackenwood masterpiece.
It is, well it is a game, first off. It is always nice to mention things like that, this is a game. A game designed by Adam Phillips and presumably coded by Sean McGee. Like 'Last of the..' I believe Lee Miller has been brought back as epic musician. Nice to see he has brought his own chair into the Bracky office and is comfortably ready for the continued journey.

The Dashkin BETA is a basic playthrough of the gameplay. It gave examples of four levels to play on, all quite different from eachother. (Phwoar)

My question is, what are you expecting from the gameplay? I can tell you this, it is half, 'YuYu the Flash Game' and half 'An even closer look into Bitey's daily life'. You are Bitey, i suppose you can't get any closer into his life, unless you become his siamese twin?
When you were a child/ If you are a child, did/do you ever stare out the car window as the vehicle is zooming down the road and imagine characters running alongside the car? Soaring at high speeds, jumping over things and occasionally running straight into a pole?

This is Dashkin, Bitey is constantly jumping, you've got him in a rush, you need to make sure that he does not injure himself. (With the amount of injuries he can get and at that impact I'm surprised he does not die!! But no one would want that.)
If you hit a boulder at high speed you are going to feel it. My little brother even covers his eyes in shock)

There are 3 obstacles so far revealed to us. I'm not sure how much i can mention but all I'll say is you can go SPLAT, SPLASH AND... SCRATCH. Adam West will love this game. Screenshots reveal all! And be assured, with these amazing confrontations comes some fantastic animation. The animation of Bitey merges together from jumping to swimming to super speeed running. It's beautiful.

Luckily I was given a 'Training Level'. I was very happy about that and did terribly the first few rounds. But if you read carefully the controls are actually very simple.

You may have come across games similar to this, 'avoid things' games. But this game is very different. You actually have a lot more control over the main character than may appear so. Whilst he does his constant jumping, you are able to 'skid' (slows you right down) and of course the SUPER SPEEED RUN. (Not official name)
You create your own time really.
But thats not all that makes it different, durrh, you think i would stop there? This game has the most amazing atmosphere I've seen on a flash game. (Or movie)
The reason the previous films did so well was because Adam can bring you into this beautiful natural world of sounds and colours.
Well now it is a game you are actually involved and it feels good. Throw away your 3D glasses, just hire Adam Phillips to make a flash game and you'll be sorted.
We were given examples of a nice clear day, a miserable, rainy, windy day and a nighttime level

The rainy one was my favorite. With the falling rain and perfect foggy colours that drifted in the background art it make me feel cold, like i needed to HURRY and get back to a good hot chocolate. Those in the UK will know the feeling when playing this level.
The levels started off quite simple but quickly got filled with the things I had to avoid, which of course added a lot more fun to it.
For a BETA this game had the perfect level of difficulty (all together). Do not make it harder (apart from later levels of course)
This can be enjoyed by all ages hopefully, you know, apart from babies and old people who can't see it anyway. And they will not appreciate Lee Miller either, so keep it away from them.

Whether you want to get the fastest speed, collect the most egg thingies or just be an emo and bash your head a few times this is the perfect game for you. I look forward to the full release when the 'STORY' will be revealed!
We'll want to play through to discover more storyline in the game. Wow! This things big.

You can watch the intro to the game here
http://bitey.com/2011/07/dashkin-intro/

Here are some screenies i took