Dinoblade

I like it. I like how you 'steer' the dino more than you would a traditional human character. I like the feeling of fighting and I like the soundtrack and the visuals. The levels are more or less a funnel that takes you from one boss to the next and whether that was a limitation of budget or a deliberate creative decision, it gives Dinoblade a rapid pace and clarity of purpose about what really matters: sick dinosaur swordfights. If you want those, then you ought to get Dinoblade. That being said, if you really want to appreciate why enemy design and clearly telegraphed attacks are a core design pillar for this genre, Dinoblade is a great case study. It has some really excellent character animation, and also some stuff that feels like it needed more time in the oven. Fighting an enemy so small you can step on it is cool, right up until it throws out an attack combo so quick that it gets lost under your feet, you can't distinguish its body from its weapon, and it's so small on the screen that its movements are nearly unreadable. Doing this once or twice in a game is cool, in Dinoblade it happens a lot more than I'd like. You'll find out quickly why in almost every other game of its genre, the enemies you fight are nearly always at minimum a head and a half taller than the player character. Also, the game needs a little camera-shake and big stompy sound effects when you jump off of something and hit the ground, and I think the sword-hit sounds could stand to be harsher and meatier as well. But that's just personal taste. Moderate gripes aside, Dinoblade is a great B-game that I won't forget anytime soon.