Reviews

Dadish 2 Review – A Second Helping of Adorable Platformy Goodness

Dadish 2 is cute, rewarding, and occasionally infuriating – which is pretty apt given that it’s a game about being a parent. It’s also a game about being a radish, which is where the similarity with real life ends. 

This charming sequel to Thomas K. Young’s Dadish does exactly what a sequel is supposed to do: it takes the original game, which came to Android and other platforms last year, and embellishes upon it without breaking anything.

In a nutshell, that means it sees you navigating a series of short stages by hopping about, jumping buttons, dodging hazards, and so on. The goal in each one, except the boss stages, is to reach one of your radish children and share some banter with them, followed by a jumping kiss.

The forty levels of the first game have been upped to fifty, and the boss count has increased from four to five. A few new mechanics have been thrown in, naturally, and the scale of the whole enterprise has expanded to the point that you even spend some time in space, dodging aliens. 

But, really, this is just a generous second helping of Dadish – and that’s a very good thing. 

Never Bring Your Kids to Work

This time around, the action begins at work. Dadish’s children have shown up for an impromptu bring-your-kids-to-work day, and inevitably they’ve all wandered off and got lost. Somehow, some of them have got lost in space.

Each stage is small, lean, and filled with traps and obstacles. You’ll come across jump pads, moveable boxes, switches, patrolling enemies, enemies that chase you, and all manner of deadly objects along the lines of spikes, circle saws, and so on. 

Dadish 2 is a game of skill, but what it really rewards is persistence as you work out exactly what you need to do to make it all the way to the end. The margins for error are razor thin, and the difficulty is sky high in places. There’s a star to collect in each one, too, giving you an additional dimension of challenge if you’re looking for it.

The levels are diverse and well-constructed, and the onscreen controls are responsive and well-designed, but technical slickness is only half of Dadish 2’s appeal. 

Dadish 2 Is Genuinely Funny

The game’s beating heart is its sense of humor, mostly contained in the dialogue that Dadish shares with his kids every time he rescues one. Like Donut County and others, Dadish 2 is a great example of smart, modern comic writing as well as game design.

Whether Dadish’s kids are asking him why he has so many buzz saws in his office building or commenting on the bleak lives of the mustard-squirting baddies that patrol some of the levels, every one of these mini-conversations can raise a smile. We tend to skip dialogue in games generally, but never in this one.

Dadish 2 came out on multiple platforms at the same time. On mobile, it’s free to download with an IAP to get rid of the ads. 

Normally that’s code for, “a regular volley of long, loud, tedious, unskippable ads will prevent you from enjoying this game until you pay the IAP ransom”, but not in Dadish 2. The ads tend to be short, and they don’t appear too frequently, so you really don’t have to spend any money to enjoy the game. 

But if you’ve got any scruples whatsoever you’ll want to throw Thomas K. Young the $3.49 it costs for the ad-free version, just because he deserves it.

You can download Dadish 2 for free right now on the Google Play Store.

Graphics:
8
Controls:
8
Gameplay:
9
Overall:
9

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