Most games concerned with keeping their heroes undetected create a reliance on a few familiar mechanics. Sticking to shadows, staying out of sight and keeping quiet have staple stealth mechanics for as long as the genreās been around. And Dynamite Jack uses all of those. But, given that the only weapon that the titular hero can wield is dynamite, maintaining silence gets very tricky..
This PC/Mac action game comes from Phil Hassey, the game designer behind the hit multiplayer strategy mobile game Galcon. Players control Jack, a human space marine whoās being held prisoner but hostile aliens. He managed to break free from his captors and now needs to escape the subterranean caverns where heās been forced to mine valuable minerals.
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Iāve spent a good chunk of time with Dynamite Jack and have come to really appreciate how it generates a nice tension between the necessity to explore very loudly with explosives and remain unseen. It can be easy enough to track patrol patterns and weave around guardsā fields of vision. But when you need to blow out a cave wall to get a key card, theyāll hear it and come running to investigate. If you get spotted, you get shot death on the spot and need to restart the level. Best of all, thereās a frightening unpredictability to the guardsā investigative rambles. I rarely felt safe while hiding in the aftermath of an explosion. And in a stealth game, thatās a great thing.
Puzzle elements show up in DJ, too. Some level will have you blowing up technological barriers to access interiors. These moments can result in beautiful cascades of destruction that are both fun and useful. Thereās a mini-map for a little help but it only shows the pathways that youāve already discovered or made, so it never becomes too much of a crutch.
Dynamite Jack sports an undeniably retro aesthetic but combines the top-down look with smart, challenging modern-day design elements. If it were a coin-op arcade game, Dynamite Jack would keep players pumping quarters into it until theyād mastered its challenges. As it is, youāll be able to grab it on Steam when it releases on May 10th.
