Dyad Review

Dyad is really a unique offering that’s hard to accurately describe in writing; it’s truly a game that needs to be played as reading about it doesn’t really do it justice. At it’s core, it’s a racing game of sorts, but it’s unlike any other racing game out there (and really, it almost feels cheap to call it a racing game). I don’t even know what you’re controlling in the game, so being a huge Stargate fan I’ll just consider it a multicolored ascended being (a light/energy being) traveling through a wormhole.

The game has 27 levels, and these pretty much build on each other. The game is really teaching you new concepts just about each time out, and it does so in a straight forward and easy to understand manner. You’ll know exactly what each enemy type does and exactly what you’re suppose to do, and it’s all easy enough to understand that you’re not going to forget what things do and how to do stuff as the game throws more complex things at you.

Each level has three star ratings attached to it. You’ll need to get at least one star to unlock the next level, while you’ll need to get the max three stars to unlock the trophy version of the level (where you’ll have different objectives and ways to play to try and unlock a trophy). Some of these are fairly easy to hit three stars, but a lot of these levels are tough and I’m not at all ashamed to say that my initial play through has a lot of one star ratings.

Dyad costs $14.99, and on the surface that seems a bit too much for what you’re getting. After all, it’s not going to take much longer than an hour and half to two hours tops to play-through the games 26 levels (27 counting the finale which I won’t ever begin to attempt to describe or mention any further). But the addition of 26 trophy levels (which you’ll have to be good just to unlock), the leaderboards, and the remix version of the games 26 levels offers up plenty of re-playability and it doesn’t hurt that the game is a tad addictive.

I’ll be perfectly honest and say that this is really quite a hard game to review. Words don’t do it justice and trying to describe it is hard. It’s an intense experience unlike any game I’ve played before, and being drug free I can only imagine that it’s like traveling through a Stargate wormhole while on an acid trip. It doesn’t start off that bad; really it’s easy to handle in the beginning. But towards the end, you’re being bombarded with myriad of colors while speeding down a tube making 360 degree rotations.

I seriously had to look away from the television at one point during one of the final levels. My little ascended being was literally moving so fast in complete circles that I could not see it or any of the enemies (I was totally in the zone on this one too, even when I had to look away for a good chunk of the time… I’m talking three stars and blowing way past the three star goal point, good for 4th place currently on the leaderboards kind of a zone).

I’m surprised my brain didn’t melt, heck for that matter there were times where I thought my TV was legit going to tear up or my PS3 was going to explode because all I could see was a visual mess of colors and I didn’t have any ability to actually see anything that was really going on.

Unique is really the only word to describe this. It’s truly in a class of its own, and as about as abstract as you could get. And you’ve certainly never seen a game this colorful. Like I said, this one is really hard to write a review for. I’m used to doing 1600 to over 2000 word reviews, but this one probably won’t even hit a 1000 or certainly not much beyond that. I almost feel guilty for that since it is a great game and grand experience, but sometimes the less said the better.

I do want to point out that this game certainly is not for everyone. If strobe lights and rapid sequences screw with your head or give you seizures, then this is certainly a game that you’ll want to avoid like the plague.

I almost wouldn’t be surprised to read of someone dying because they played this game for too long on the higher levels (this game, while again a tad addictive is not something to sit and play for hours at a time).

It only takes two hours tops to run through all the levels, and I took my sweet time with it going through them over the course of several days and finishing up less than an hour ago; where I probably played less than 35 minutes and my head/eyes do hurt some and I don’t even have any issues with rapid lights and fast moving colors.

Dyad is highly recommended, and should be experienced, but do be smart and know your limits. This isn’t the game you want to turn into video game crack.

Dyad gets a three out of five: GOOD

* A copy of this game was provided by creator/developer Shawn McGrath for review.