With an already extensive list of generic games on shelves today, it doesn’t come as a surprise when yet another mediocre project is released. Bandai’s D.I.C.E., based on the anime of the same name, is one such title. Though the underlying concept of the game is fairly interesting, the whole experience turns out to be nothing more than an uninspired, repetitive, and poorly executed mess that couldn’t be recommended to anyone.
"...an uninspired, repetitive, and poorly executed mess that couldn’t be recommended to anyone."
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Despite an unusual setting, D.I.C.E. presents an almost nonexistent story. The Sarbylion galaxy is a dangerous place full of criminals and wrongdoers, and it is the duty of the D.I.C.E. (standing for DNA Integrated Cybernetic Enterprises) to put an end to their illegal methods of gathering and trading valuable minerals called "shell." Comprised of a group of kids who can control machines called Dinobreakers, the D.I.C.E. travels around the galaxy answering to any trace of unlawful activity.
As you might guess, the contraptions called Dinobreakers basically resemble mechanical dinosaurs, and they are the major mode of transportation and attack in the game. In addition to their primary forms, they can transform into vehicles that can travel at much higher speeds than they themselves can. To top it all off, you are allowed to choose a satellite bot that can fire projectiles or lasers at enemies on your command. But while all of these things would seem to translate into entertaining gameplay, D.I.C.E. fails to put its numerous appealing concepts into good effect.
"D.I.C.E. fails to put its numerous appealing concepts into good effect."
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Even though the D.I.C.E. is supposed to be dealing with crime, too often the game will send you off on arbitrary assignments that have absolutely no connection to what the team should actually be doing. For example, some missions will require you to compete in races, and others will have you exploring a computerized world in which worker robots have malfunctioned. The same problem is evident in the missions as well – there is very little exploring to do, and the stages are usually completed simply by defeating continuous waves of enemies. In effect, the game actually becomes a mindless hack ’n slasher, forcing you to utilize the same attack combo over and over again. Essentially, you’ll be pressing the same button on your controller constantly in hopes of killing off enough of the monsters surrounding you before they are able to deplete your health.
During fight sequences, your Dinobreaker will start to overheat as you take damage from opposing forces. Once it takes too much damage, its pilot will be thrown out. From that point until your Dinobreaker is revived, you’ll basically have to run around in circles to avoid enemy attacks in order to prevent the loss of more of your health, as you’re more vulnerable when not in your machine. If you take in too much damage while exposed, you’ll die and have to restart the area all over again, a notion which isn’t too appealing due to the fact that most areas, especially in the later stages, take more than just a couple of minutes to complete.
After battling through countless enemies, a boss battle will ensue at the end of many of the stages. Even with the change of pace, however, the battles all turn out to be just as dull and repetitive as the previous areas in the missions. All of the bosses are quite easily defeated, and there is little sense of accomplishment once you dispose of them. In addition, the game recycles some of the bosses, so you’ll have to fight them again in later stages. Quite frankly, what the battles make for are unexciting conclusions of already dry and monotonous missions.
"D.I.C.E.’s technical aspects, like the gameplay itself, are heavily disappointing."
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As mentioned earlier, D.I.C.E. contains a few racing missions. However, that’s nothing to be eager about – the races ultimately turn out to be tedious and frustrating. The vehicles that your Dinobreakers can transform into aren’t as easily controlled as one would like, and the tracks are very poorly designed, containing such annoying features as sharp turns and randomly-placed obstacles. Most of the vehicles are so slow that they’ll lag behind the competition, and even though they have boosters, you’ll rarely be able to use them, since when you do you’ll usually fly directly off the track. To make things worse, once you respawn on the track you’ll be thrown off your Dinobreaker and be forced to wait until it recovers. In fact, you will probably begin to wish that there weren’t any racing missions at all. Luckily, the game allows you to skip them altogether, but it’s still disappointing that the game managed to bungle yet another interesting concept.
Like the combat, the environments of D.I.C.E. are dull and unvaried. Each area of the stages will look almost exactly the same as the previous one, and that is made more despairing by the fact that the backgrounds and features look extremely bland and pale. The Dinobreakers, which are shiny and fairly well-detailed, are an improvement, but everything else looks much too generic; the graphics of the game are, in a word, mediocre. On the other hand, the sound isn’t much better than the visuals. Most of the music is weak, and the sound effects don’t stand out either. The voice acting seems acceptable at first, but in the end it turns out to be artificial and devoid of character. All in all, D.I.C.E.’s technical aspects, like the gameplay itself, are heavily disappointing.
D.I.C.E.’s sixteen missions can be completed in around six hours, but you’ll likely stop playing much earlier. And though the game offers a few extras such as a versus mode and new Dinobreakers to purchase, those features don’t mean much in a game that isn’t entertaining in the first place. With that said, this game couldn’t be recommended to anyone, young or old.
