Evolution: Dino Dudes by Imagitec Design

Description:
....As the proud leader of the Dino Dudes, it's up to you to lead your hairy band of Cro-Magnons to the top of the food chain. Discover fire, weapons, The Wheel...dinosaurs and rival tribesmen...and do everything you can to survive-so your kids can someday invent cool stuff like malls, video games and of course, the bacon double-cheeseburger.

Overview:
....Dino Dudes was one of the first Jaguar games to be released. When I picked up my Jag, I looked at the pics of the games on the back of the box and this one didn't stand out. I ended up picking up alot of other games, but after about a year, I went ahead and picked this one up just for kix. I found out what I was missin'.

The game involves your tribe, your inventory of items, and the goal. Most of the time you'll be either searching for a new weapon or item.....slaying a nasty dinosaur....helping out a captured dude, pet, or idol...or just stepping on the goal stone. The missions are varied, and that's good...or else this might turn out to be a bore-fest. It's doing these things that'll cause you trouble. As you get further along the puzzles become increasingly difficult and require good use of your noggin'. You'll be able to utilize tools as you get further along such as: Ropes, Spears, Torches, Wheels, and even Witchdoctors. Place the witchdoctor near a dude, pick the weapon you'd like to turn him into...and POOF!...instant survival tool!

The graphics area of the game is OK. Some would say that the graphics of this one "suck", but When I say graphics "suck"...they have to look nasty....pixellized or blurry. These graphics aren't bad, they're just not flashy. They're pretty colorful. Animation on the dudes is nice and smooth, and the scrolling of the fore and background is super-smooth. The graphics are "in there"...they don't detract from play, and they don't add a whole lot to it either. They are nice though.

Ok...you'll never hear me mention Imagitec Design in a review without saying the music is superb. This game is no exception. Dino Dudes was one of the first times for Imagitec to work with the Jaguar, and the music is quite good. They have so much flexibility, meaning that they can do almost any type of music and make it sound great. This game features caveman/quest type tunes. A few of the tracks a totally awesome, and I can't help but crank the knob on my stereo. There are no "bad" tunes, but some are better than others (aren't there always?). It carries one of the traits of most Imagitec tunes. One side does the highs and melody, and the other does the bass and stuff. I love that bass!

The sound effects are good too. There are some voice samples which are kinda muffled/raspy but they're kinda amusing. There are other sound effects for most of the things you do, but this category falls short of excellent. They weren't missing any FX, but the ones that are in aren't flashy...kinda like the graphics I guess.

There is somewhat of a steep learning curve involved here though. The first few levels you'll be scampering just to figure out the main controls...let alone the other tasks you'll need to do. Once you get through the curve, you'll be stacking, jumping, throwing, and everything easily. It's not a factor that stays with the game forever. It goes away as you get better, as with most games.

Dino Dudes is a great puzzler that I'd recommend to any puzzler fan. If you're not into puzzlers....now's a good time to start.

Graphics-7

They're nice....not much more though.

Sound/music-8 1/2

The music kix! Tunes that'll keep your attention and keep the walls shakin'. The sound effects don't lack, but don't have that special spark.

Control-8 1/2

Practice....that's all you'll need to worry about.

Power-6

Not much on utilizing the power of the Jag, but it does have nice scrolling. Nice tunes...and lotsa levels at least.

Fun factor-8

Once you've got the control mastered, this will provide ya with days of puzzle solving. It's great fun....I love the high score track and music video thing!