Dinocide

Dinocide is a platformer with an emphasis on eating food to keep your health bar up. It gradually diminishes as time ticks by, so you have to continue to eat to stay alive. Taking damage will decrease a portion of the meter, so making sure you find food while navigating the level is the key to survival. I like the style of the graphics, since the older games strike a chord with me. I grew up with Nintendo and such, so there is a reminiscent feeling that goes along with the pixelated style of game that I really enjoy much of the time. Here are my overall thoughts on initial gameplay:
Pros:
I enjoy using the controller with this game. This is always a plus for me when I can do everything with a controller, since it's usually easier on the hands. Only a few buttons to worry about as well, which can be a good thing!
The graphics are great, in a sense that I like the older pixelated NES/SNES feel. They remind me of many games of old, for sure.
The few weapons you get are fun to use, and I also enjoy the concept of throwing things at enemies to kill them.
The dinosaurs are great because you get a second meter - while you hope you don't need to use your own health, so you can finish the level with the dinosaur for use later.
The dinosaurs have special attacks which can quickly dispatch enemies around you while you try to keep your life/hunger gauge up.
Cons:
I don't like the hunger system, though it is unique. I feel a little bit rushed, since the meter goes down rather fast, and taking damage decreases the meter even more.
I do not like that I can't go backwards and redo levels I wanted to try over again in the story mode.
Other Thoughts:
I would have to say that trying levels out and seeing what they are about is a good idea. It's not a bad idea to die some while exploring various levels to find out where a nice line would be to travel for max benefit, or bonus perks, like gemstones, or shops or dinosaurs, for instance. You have infinite lives, basically, but if you use things, and you or they die, then you lose them.
Killing things can be detrimental to success on this one. Sometimes it is better to skip ahead and save your meter. Collecting gems, dinosaurs, and weapons is a great idea whenever possible. They carry over when you clear a level.
The whole system with the hunger meter is a bit too fast for my liking. Sometimes I get overfilled, and other times, I find it incredibly difficult to not get hit, move fast enough, and maintain my hunger gauge throughout the level.
I am currently stuck on a part with a strange frame rate issue, but hopefully I can finish this one up soon once it's figured out. The developers were quick to answer my request for help, and I'm hopeful I can finish this one soon!
EDIT: Developers could not replicate my strange problem, so we updated my save file to continue on, so I am planning on doing this soon. Hopefully it's just a freak thing that I encountered alone.
Good game so far, and I would recomend it as it is right now for anybody who enjoys the older style games from the past. This one embraces that sort of aura!
** Disclaimer: I was given a key to review the game. This had no impact on my rating**

Dinocide is an retro platformer set in an alternate prehistoric timeline. I haven’t played a platformer for a while so I must say, it felt good to play this.
The story of the game is as follows, your lovely companion, which I assume to be your wife/partner, gets captured by a mysterious creature and you’re off to save her. That is it. This is one of the few complaints I have about Dinocide, the superficial story or lack of any actual development and dialogue. Despite this, the game manages to redeem it itself.
The gameplay is pretty simple. Dinocide plays like any standard platformer and there isn’t much you need to learn. The main gimmick of this game is the fact that you can’t wander on a level and take your lovely time to complete it. As soon as you spawn on a level, a hunger bar at the top will start diminishing and if it reaches zero it is game over and you have to start the level all over again. This bar serves both as your health meter and as a timer. If you get hit the bar diminishes and as time passes the bar diminishes by itself so the game forces you to keep moving. In order to restore it, you need to collect food which is scattered all around the levels.
The game is divided into several levels and there are a few times on the world map that you get to choose one of two ways to go. This allows for more variety on another playthrough. The levels themselves are divided into several different biomes such as ice caves, forests, deserts and volcanic areas, each with their own enemy and dinossaur types.
While playing on each level you’ll also find weapons, dinossaur eggs and gems. The game starts you off with throwing stones as a default weapon but soon enough you’ll start finding, axes, bows and boomerangs which you’ll also be able to use. Dinossaur eggs play a huge role because they basicly give you another life. What I mean by this is that when you pick up a dinossaur, you’ll get a new hunger bar for the dinossaur alone. Not only that but dinossaurs give you special attacks and allow you to walk through lava, swamp water or underwater, depending on their type.Gems can be used at shops to buy more weapons, eggs or food.
The thing is, if you complete a level with a boomerang and a dinossaur, you’ll get to keep them for later levels. This can be done via a “equipment screen” before each level. However, if you die while using one of the previously acquired weapons and/or dinossaurs, you’ll loose them for good. This actually made me wonder why you can’t go back and replay previous levels in order to stack on weapons for later, harder levels.
That said, each weapon and dinossaur is unique on their own way. Still, unlike most games on this genre you can’t just spam your attacks because there is a stamina meter which regenerates if you stop attacking. This makes you time your attacks wisely to make sure that when an enemy is up in your face you’re able to attack him.
Verdict:
Despite it’s short length, Dinocide manages to keep it interesting throughout the entire way. Each boss is unique and memorable. The music is fitting for each type of environment and I found the pixel graphic style rather pleasing to look at. There were some moments in which I grabbed the controller and pressed the buttons even harder as if that would make me actually succeed but most of the times it did not.
Dinocide is a simple yet solid retro platformer and I recommend it to anyone who is into those or is looking for something short and easy to play.

Dinocide is a classic adventure-platformer made in the same vein as the classic Adventure Island series. Much like many classic NES era games, there isn't really a lot in the way of story, just the premise that our prehistoric hero sets off on a quest to rescue his kidnapped lady love. I think that was a perfectly fine decision to have made for this kind of game. If you like platformer games with rideable Dinosaurs and Mechsuits look no further than Dinocide!
If you are unfamiliar with classic platformers, the idea is that you want to move from the left hand side of the screen to the right hand side of the screen. On the surface that seems simple enough and perhaps for the first few levels it is almost that simple, however, as you make your way through the game new elements are added that increase the challenge. To further arrest your advancement the ground becomes even more broken up. This forces you to have to make more leaps of faith and then of course new enemies will also appear to hinder your progress. Those are the fundamental elements of a standard classic platformer. Now that you have the basic idea on what kind of game we are talking about, let's focus on Dinocide itself.
I mentioned Dinocide was an Adventure-Platformer so let's talk about the Adventure portion. As stated above, the game's entire story is that the Caveman wants to rescue his significant other. He begins his quest with a never ending handful of stones and ventures out in the dangerous wilds. As he travels through the levels he will start to encounter items that will make his journey a little bit easier. First off, a handful of stones is great in a pinch but there are far more effective weapons to deal with enemies. The throwing axe will likely be the first one of these valuable weapons you will aquire. It basically works in the same manner as the stones but it does more damage as it arcs through the air. The boomerang will fly in circular pattern around the screen near the hero and then return to him. It has the possibility to hit multiple enemies or hit the same enemy multiple times before returning. The last one is the arrow that you can throw straight across the screen and isn't affected by gravity like the stones or axe. Having only four weapons at your disposal might sound a little disappointing but it really isn’t. It’s more than made up for by giving you the ability to ride one of 5 dinosaurs (and a secret mechsuit) too! Each of these have their own special abilities and also increase your chances for survival.
Most games typically have a health bar that displays how many more hits you can take before you will die. In order to prevent you from taking your time and being meticulously careful as you progress through a level, most classic games will also have some sort of timer that will cause you to lose if it runs out. Dinocide combines these two effects into a Hunger Meter. This Hunger Meter will deplete naturally over time in order to prevent you from standing still too long. It will be further depleted every time you take damage. This makes Dinocide rather challenging. Not only are you having to carefully make your way from the left side of the screen to the right side, you are also having to ensure you grab all the food along the way in order to avoid starving to death. It's a hard call to say if this adds to the fun of the game or detracts from it. There were many times when I was within striking distance of the exit or food and yet died of starvation just because I happened to have got hit a couple of times on my journey to that point. This caused me to have to repeat some levels far more times than I am willing to admit to. Luckily, there is a bit of a solution to this problem.
The dinosaurs (and mechsuit which I will class as a dinosaur from here on out) add a second Hunger Meter for you. It is separate from your own Hunger Meter. All food sources you touch will go to refilling the hunger of the dinosaur. Once the dinosaur starves to death, you can continue on with your own Hunger Meter. Hopefully its sacrifice won't have been in vain! However, just sacrificing dinosaurs all willy-nilly isn't exactly in your best interest. Any weapons you buy or find during the level, as well as any dinosaurs you find, will be stored at your camp if you successfully manage to keep them around until you reach the exit. In fact, if you are super careful you can reuse the same weapon and dinosaur until the very end of the game. Even if you find a new weapon or dinosaur on the level, assuming you don't die, your old weapons and dinosaurs along with your new weapons and dinosaurs will be found waiting for you at your camp until you are willing to use them again.
There is another meter in the game that in my opinion is a little on the short side. It's the Stamina Bar. To prevent you from just spamming your attacks, each time you use your weapon, your bar depletes a bit. If you do multiple attacks in short succession, it leaves you unable to attack further until the bar refills itself enough. This made fighting the enemies much more challenging, and arguably made the game a little more enjoyable.
As you play through Dinocide you will cross between multiple different biomes each with their own enemies. You will also encounter multiple bosses on your way to rescue the kidnapped cave princess. Luckily, with bosses, the Hunger Meter turns into a standard Health Meter and no longer depletes over time. As an added bonus, if you really enjoy fighting the bosses, there is even a Boss Rush mode which will let you focus on just that part of the game. In order to help promote replayability, there are alternate routes you can take through the game. Each level follows the all or nothing format. Either you make it to the very end in a single attempt, or you lose everything you had with you and have to start the level over again from the very beginning.
Rather than collectable coins, gems are used as currency. Many levels offer a shop, which will sell you a weapon, a dinosaur and/or a bit of food. If you have the gems to do so, I'd highly recommend collecting the dinosaurs and weapons. I ended the game with a surplus of gems and was really wishing I’d purchased more weapons when I got the end boss.
Pros:
Classic Adventure-Platformer that stays true to the genre
Dinosaur mounts
Game length is appropriate for the genre. It is long enough to keep you entertained, but short enough that you are willing to replay it to try the alternate routes.
Gameplay is not bogged down by excessive story elements
Combined Health and Timer is a fun standard element twist
Cons:
Cliché story: Man sets out to rescue the damsel in distress
Landing too close to an edge will pull your character through the platform and into the pit even if the character landed on the platform.
The Hunger Meter depletes too quickly making the game very unforgiving. Later levels basically come down to you having to quickly collect every bit of food, stick every landing and not be touched by the enemies at all.
No checkpoints on the more difficult levels. Failure always resets you to the start of that level.
Unable to return to previous stages or beat the alternate path levels in a single playthrough. This is likely to prevent farming weapons and dinosaurs, but the ability to do that would be welcome. The end boss is very difficult without upgraded weapons or dinosaurs to assist you.
Overall, Dinocide is great, albeit very challenging, classic adventure-platformer. It has enough classic elements that should make any fan of the genre happy and it has enough of its own elements to make it not just another cookie cutter game.

I love caveman / Dinosaur genre games, in my opinion, there is not enough of them and it is a genre that is way overlooked.
Here comes along Dinocide with some really cool game mechanics, mostly familiar from the NES era.
The game feels like not so much a throwback but more of an homage to the past.
However the game is poorly put together, there is no structure to the overworld map, and this feels clunky, I would have much preferred clear stages such as desert, forest, ice, instead we are given a roulette style level system, I have no idea who thought that was a good idea.
Also, the game is very repetitive, some of the level design feels rushed and the enemies seem as though they were taken from previous projects the team had worked on, for a game called Dinocide there are very thew dinosaurs, which is a shame, instead we have Mexican skeletons and zombie pig-men !!!
There are some good secrets hidden away, and the boss fights are inventive, I kind of wish the team had spent more time on creating more bosses and actual dinosaur enemies than trying to pad out the game with convoluted levels.
Dinocide does have some charm, it's hard to find but it does exist within the game, surprisingly with everything said the game is fun and does give the player some challenges, even if some of them seem unfair at times.
I believe this is a game aimed at little children, who have very short attention spans. Dinocide is a bad game, it is not a good game, but it is fun and very random.
I am giving it a thumbs up because I do believe people should play this if only to learn what not to do while developing a game, and how to avoid the trappings of poor development.
The game is funny for all the wrong reasons and fun because of it.
I both love and hate this game all at the same time, but love it more than I hate it...
I just wish someone will make a cool retro Dinosaur game, maybe it will hapen one day... we can only hope.

A Decent Indie Platformer with Room to Grow
Dinocide is one of those indie gems that deserves more attention than it gets. It offers a nostalgic NES-inspired experience with a variety of level designs, enemies, and weapons. There’s definitely charm here, and with some additional polish, this game could shine even brighter.
That said, it’s not without its flaws. The story mode is quite short, the jumping mechanics feel a bit clunky, and some parts of the game lack smooth animations. There are also occasional enemy movement bugs that can break immersion.
Adding Steam achievements and expanding in-game content would go a long way in improving the overall experience. I genuinely hope the developers are still working to refine and enhance the game.
In conclusion, if you're a fan of old-school single-player platformers and are looking for a few relaxing hours, Dinocide is worth a try. However, due to the limited content, I can't recommend purchasing it at full price - wait for a sale if you're curious.
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Okay, this game has gotten some negative reviews, mostly (at the time of writing) about the hunger/life-bar. Going by them though you'd miss out on a very neat game, let me tell you why.
Essentially, this game is very similar to the Adventure Island series for the NES, which started as a retool of the Wonderboy game. You're on an epic quest to save your girlfriend from a continent-sized prehysteric monster. You chase after her through a series of levels with their own themes (swamp/forest/desert/cave/lavacave/etc.), collect power-ups, food and dino-eggs in order to make travelling and finding hidden things easier. You also have to face big bosses and be speedy about going through the levels due to the hunger/life bar.
So far, it sounds like you just need to shave your character to find Master Higgins, but the truth is that Dinocide has some of its own charms and flaws. Big point on the charm side is that each level has at least one hidden something, be that a crystal, a mecha or a group photo of the dev team. Each level has a fun design with surprisingly detailed bg's. Downsides are that the hunger bar depletes quickly and that you can't return to a previous level so exploring them takes multiple playthroughs. Bottom line is though that while most of the challenge comes from the hunger bar, it is a very fun game and definitely worth the price.

After yesterday’s review of a somewhat disappointing platform game, Marcus Level, I didn’t want to set my hopes too high for Dinocide. However, this was very difficult. It’s a game that again appears to have everything that I look for in this type of game being inspired by the NES old-school single player platformers. It’s also not the developer, AtomicTorch Studio, first game on Steam. Generally developers learn a trick or two from their debut game and I hoped that this was the case here. Their first title, VoidExpanse, released in April of last year, was met with a rather poor to mixed reaction by the reviews on Metacritic where the game averages a 59 critic score which is somewhat bogged down by the 40 that GameSpot‘s Kevin VanOrd gave the game. However, Steam players genuinely appeared to like the game (72-28 positive-negative review score as of time of writing). With that said Dinocide appeared to have potential from the outside looking in.
So it turned out to be. A game with a whole lot of potential and one that does a lot of things right. The atmosphere created by the music and the 8-bit era graphics. The nicest touch being the health mechanic that decreases over time but can be replenished by hitting food. I found it to be an incredibly deft decision because of the caveman character and setting that you play. I quite enjoyed the four different dinosaurs that you can utilize and ride with each having their own little attacking move that aides your ability to complete levels and to unlock certain things throughout the game. Arguably the most important advantage for the game is its accessability. This is something that everyone will be able to not only play but find some level of enjoyment from.
I only have two criticisms of Dinocide. First, the game may be a little too easy. I played through the majority of the levels without dying a single time. When I did die it was often because I had attempted to do something silly. Had I used any level of concentration I would have known not to do it. One of the things that really that I believe made the NES games so good was that when you beat them you really felt as though you had earned it. Unfortunately, that’s really not the case here. My other criticism is that the game is over too quickly. With the game being as easy as it is I was hoping for more content but the game can be completed in a couple of hours. The only real replayability is in choosing an alternative route meaning that you will never hit every possible level in one playthrough. Unfortunately at time of writing the game lacks Steam achievements so the only reason to replay the game is to visit those extra levels without any extrinsic value to doing so. Steam achievements would add a lot of value to the game and given the fact that AtomicTorch utilized them in VoidExpanse I am somewhat shocked and disappointed that they weren’t implemented here.
Despite the two pretty heavy criticisms that I have of the game I really did enjoy my time with it. With increased natural difficulty it could have been much better but it’s still a good game. Some may argue that it’s not quite worth its asking price of US$9.99 but it does come close. If I were a price conscious consumer I’d wish list this for now and pick it up when it is discounted or bundled. At that point you’ll receive maximum value and quite likely a bargain.
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