C-Dogs

C-dogs, also called CyberDogs 2, is not so much a sequel as a redesigned version of the game CyberDogs. Remaining, in fact, the same shooter with a top view, it has been worked out much better, as a result of which the gameplay has undergone a number of serious changes.

If in CyberDogs the player was given only three characters to choose from, C-Dogs has a generation process. Yes, there are only 7 faces to choose from, but you can change the skin color, hair color (if any) and the color of the suit (arms, torso and legs), and you can also enter a name for your character and save his template so that you don’t create again. The game begins with a selection of campaigns, of which there are only 5, but each of them now has a text description. Each campaign is divided into missions, also equipped with their own description, which differ in the task, a set of opponents and even weapons available in the mission. And although the stories there do not shine, because a good programmer is not necessarily a good screenwriter, but there is room for creativity. As before, you can play with a partner on one computer, only now for two players there is also a duel mode - Dog Fight.

As already mentioned, the list of available weapons may differ for each mission. For some reason, the author decided to remove the store and the lives that were in CyberDogs: now weapons and armor are not scattered on the levels, and a drop in HP to 0 immediately leads to an inglorious loss. However, now the game has a password system that allows you to continue the campaign from the same scenario. For each mission, you can take from one to three types of weapons from the proposed list, but the cartridges do not end there. Still, firing indiscriminately is still not recommended, because the game is played on points, and points are removed for each shot. Moreover, computer-controlled allies and just civilians now roam the levels, killing them with fines. The choice of weapons itself became richer and grew to 11 types, and the opponents also added unique weapons - for example, turning rifles and bombs with harmful inverting gas control into stone. Unlike CyberDogs, where the chainsaw was always active and used in conjunction with any weapon, C-Dogs has a separate view of the knife, but it is especially convenient to use it with a new technique: pressing the weapon change button with the direction button allows the character to quickly slip a decent distance in the specified side, which also greatly accelerates the study of the level. According to the creator of the game, he tried to make the set of weapons as balanced as possible.

The levels are generated in a pseudo-random manner according to the conditions specified in the editor: just change the random seed set in the options and the missions (along with passwords for them) will be transformed. They became more interactive objects - for example, exploding boxes and barrels with napalm appeared. Some rooms are now closed with colored doors, the passage through which requires first finding the key of the corresponding color. There are five types of tasks: to search for items, eliminate a certain number of certain opponents, and destroy given objects, level research and character rescue have been added. After completing the mission, you need to not only get to the zone indicated on the map, but also stretch there for 5 seconds. If the game seems too easy or too complicated - not a problem: in the settings menu you can choose one of five difficulty levels, change the maximum health values ​​of the player and enemies, increase the number of opponents on the map and enable / disable friendly fire - everyone can configure C-Dogs as much as possible suitable for yourself.

There is still no music in the game, but now it easily recognizes any files in mod format without any transcoding. It’s just all in words, but in reality even the appearance of sounds already present in the game requires torment with the setup program (dsetup32.exe), for the successful introduction of the acquired music into the game you just need angelic patience.

Included with the game is the campaign editor - the same scope for creativity. In it you can set all text descriptions, mission tasks, design levels and characters on them. But you can’t draw levels - you can only set the conditions already mentioned: the number of walls, rooms, colored doors and various objects, available weapons, etc., which significantly limits the creative process. The built-in character editor allows you to choose their appearance, weapons, various immunities (for example, to fire) and behavior. Unfortunately, given such limited funds, it is almost impossible to create a campaign unique from the point of view of the game process, and all the possible artistic value of the plot will be reduced to the text in the descriptions.

Thus, C-Dogs definitely looks much better than its ancestress, but its main drawback - the monotony of the gameplay - has not gone away, and over time, though not so fast, it will become boring. And even if she demands fuss with the settings for a comfortable game, she will be able to give some pleasant hours, especially if there is someone to share the pleasure with. And for a home-made game, it is very good. Woof ... woof!