Dino D0Day Review

Game: Dino D-Day
Year (s): 2011
Company: dev. 800 North and Digital Ranch
pub. 800 North and Digital Ranch
Engine: Source
Type: Shooter, Multiplayer
Viewpoint: First-Person
Metacritic Score: 53


Price (as of September 29, 2013)


Regular list price on Steam: $9.99
Not available anywhere else.


Obligatory Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmCNfPMr1I




The Concept


The Nazis have dinosaurs! Rigged up with guns and explosives, Dino D-Day introduced a ridiculous, fun idea for team-based deathmatch and control point combat.




The Execution


The dinosaurs are fun, but the human characters are nothing exciting. The Allies only have one dinosaur character. Bot support was added, but the AI was not very good and this negatively affected the game. Bots do not go after objectives, and are much more difficult to sneak up on (two of the dinos are all about sneaking).


For a couple of years, there were a dozen or so dedicated servers. In the heyday, one server would be populated, and the rest empty or only with one or two players. There are no longer ANY dedicated servers.


A single-player campaign was promised to come, and would help players learn how to use some of the characters. Now that the servers are gone, I doubt this will happen.


As far a mods go, Dino D-Day is up there. It does something new, and has some humor. As far as games go, Dino D-Day is pretty lacking. The novelty of dinosaurs can't make up for lack of servers and crappy bots.