Dimo's Quest

A fun Chip's Challenge clone with some nice twists, Dimo's Quest continues Boeder's knack at replicating classic games and enhance their play value (their first release was Subtrade: Return to Irata, a fun trading game inspired by M.U.L.E.).

Although hardly a prerequisite for puzzle games, there IS a plot here: in order to marry Princess Dori, Dimo the frog has to collect all the sweets her father King Greenfoot wants. The game is a series of levels, seen from the top view, filled with candies to be collected. Once you've collected them all, you find the exit to move on to the next level. Impeding your progress are lethal bad guys, cannons, trains, lava pits, water, fire, etc.

You can avoid some hazards by finding spiked shoes (which allow you to walk on ice rather than slide on it), life-savers (allow you to wade through water without drowning), and fire extinguishers (for walking through fire). You can push rocks to various ends, from bashing bad guys to buliding bridges. Finding colored keys allows you to open doors of the corresponding color. If you die, you restart the level. You have an infinite number of lives, but you have to finish a level to move forward in the game.

Similar to Chip's Challenge, the first few levels introduce you to the various elements of the game. Subsequent levels consist of puzzles to be solved, such as "how do I build this bridge with only this many rocks" or "how do I get to the exit without being whisked right past it by the one-way floor?" As in Chip's Challenge and Lemmings, the best levels are those that encourage you to think of your tools in non-intuitive ways. These puzzles are fun to solve, and you'll appreciate the designer's ingenuity once you figure them out.

My only major gripe with this puzzler is that it only has 51 levels. Although that seems like a lot, it pales in comparison to 148 levels in Chip's Challenge and 120 in Lemmings. At 5-20 minutes a level, this game is far too easy to finish, and the prospects for repeat play value are virtually nil, since there is no random level feature.

Despite the relative short length, Dimo's Quest has many neat features that will keep everyone entertained. For instance, there are trains that move only on train tracks. Some trains can be boarded -- they kill you if they hit you-- and some electrified train tracks are deadly to the touch. Trap-doors are replaced by damaged floor that weakens over time (or with repeated use) and becomes deadly. These fun elements help make Dimo's Quest a catchy and addictive game.

If you like Lemmings games, and especially if you like Chip's Challenge, you'll love Dimo's quest. Two thumbs up!

Review By HOTUD