Dadish 3D

To start off, one might think that with my bias towards 3D platformers I wouldn't be able to make an objective recommendation for something from this genre without delving into nostalgia. However, contrary to popular belief there are praises and criticisms to be made aside from comparison here and there when it's suitable enough to do so. So with that out of the way, let's get to it. Dadish as a franchise now with more than 3 games centered around a father who somehow just keeps losing track of his children has gone into the third dimension. Indeed, this 2D platformer that linger between casual and precise has now some gameplay changes and to me they lean this product more towards the former. As expected, the camera movement is in control of the player and while it can sometimes get behind bushes and trees the levels are so vast in extension that this is rarely a problem. Also, jumps now have a shadow that can make the depth perception problem a little easier even if it's not cast on pits. Fortunately, for these jumps the hitbox on both Dadish and the platform is big enough to compensate as well as the coyote time implemented accordingly. As a result, Dadish feels natural, forgiving and tight to control. In addition, the enemies don't pose as much of a threat as before as with their placement and the size of the fields you'd find yourself going around them to be the preferred option. This can even be applied to jumps between spikes and boulders coming towards you, letting you "cheese" the intended path for a shorter version. Depending on who you ask this can be considered a design flaw or a way to motivate speedruns as there have been bad examples of this in the past (like Mega Man X7). Either way, I found myself gravitating towards the latter and cutting completion times in quite a quick fast because of it. Furthermore, there are 2 special levels worth mentioning while talking about the gameplay. The first is the Burgurgular ones which much like 2 are auto runners although this time you go forward with a fixed camera that prevents it from being stuck but can make for some depth perception problems in some particular jumps. The second is the daikon levels, otherwise known as the Crash Bandicoot levels as you get chased towards the camera while you try to escape as fast as possible. These were the most challenging ones not due to time reaction but rather your movement speed not being able to compensate for small mistakes. In fact, one of them features a particular star that can be a bit annoying to get considering what you have to do. Speaking of which, stars return as an excuse to explore the levels and in this case the third dimension certainly gave the dev more of a reason to get creative. Some are quite well hidden if you're not used to checking for ledges or turning the camera around and none require you doing crazy jumps or some air maneuvering like you would give some collectibles of platformers of old (Spyro 3 comes to mind). Take in mind that these are completely optional after all so even if you don't find them while exploring you may find yourself glazing at some details while snowmen, sandcastles and more that you can interact with. Lastly, it wouldn’t be fair for the game if I didn’t mention the boss fights and the witty lines you have with your child at the end of each level. As such, each boss is different like in the other games and while the third dimension is used for the way to defeat them they do still come off as quite easy until the final one whose fight is probably the longest because of certain waiting sections. Regarding the lines, I consider some of them to have cracked a smile but others didn’t click unfortunately. Humour is subjective after all. In short, I can safely recommend this one as a cheap 3D platformer alternative to the ones being recognized at the Game Awards and the such. Oh, and don’t fret over not owning a ps5 as you may jam to the beats of some of these levels instead.