Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum

Nintendo
Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
7.20
7.20
6.40
6.40
Votes: 5
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: Nathaniel Date: Jun 9, 2008
This was one of the first games I had on NES. For a relatively ordinary and sometimes sub-par game, it's kinda addictive (assuming you have a LOT of time to practice and patience).

Graphics: 6
I was going to give graphics a lower grade, but Dash's animations are actually pretty smooth, like his running frames; you get the idea that it's a man running, and not some lifeless sprite. But his sprite is so tiny that you can barely get his tiny feet to line up with where you want to jump to/land.

The rest of the graphics are pretty ordinary though, especially the orange-colored rooms that look like padded walls (hence part of the title, eh? ^_^ ) And the rooms with alleged "wide open blue skies" had absolutely nothing in the background. Couldn't they add clouds or SOMETHING? But I did like the later rooms with the red "stone"-looking floors that make it look like something out of the tenth level of hell.
The enemies are pretty standard; nothing really jumped out at me as much as they jumped out at Dash. I did find the bomb with legs running around in the later levels hilarious, though.

Sound: 6
Again, as with the graphics, I should give a lower grade, but it was horrible enough to do so. The sound is about average, with some scratchy tunes on a few rooms. The outer corridors where the rooms' entrances are had a pretty dark "psycho-esque" kind of tune which was kinda cool.
The most annoying thing though? The sound of your oxygen loss. It's this horrible buzzing/alarm sort of noise that just grates on your nerves!
Other than that, most other sounds were pretty typical 1980's NES standard ones. Nothing amazing here.

Gameplay: 4
Ah, the gameplay. As addictive as this game can be sometimes, trying to line up Dash's tiny little feet to the spot where you're jumping to or trying to land on is near impossible without practice. The springboards are useful, but obnoxious. Some rooms have too many, and trying to figure out which ones will get you where you need to go, before your oxygen runs out, is totally grating on nerves.
Although it is interesting that some levels have "ice" floors that you actually slide around on. Interesting, but again, also ANNOYING. Control is almost impossible without a lot of practice and patience, especially when having to run and jump.

Overall: 5
Well, overall, not a bad game. It's something out of my childhood, so even with some bad points, it still makes for a pretty good gaming experience. If you have the patience and the time to practice, I guess it's pretty cool.

This game could have been better, but I guess it's ok as is, since it's NES, and we all love NES and the powerful nostalgia is brings us. Thus ends this trip down memory lane.....