Dadish 2

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Dadish Collection, along with Dadish and Dadish 3.)

Dadish 2, like its predecessor, is a family-friendly Platformer. Released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2021, this is a game once again has players take the role of an anthropomorphic radish who needs to run through the game’s brief levels to collect all of his errant kids. And… I’m going to be repeating myself a lot here, because in many ways, this game could have simply been called “More Dadish”, as it plays like more of the same.

This game uses simple, colorful pixel art visuals with a lot of little references to the Mario series, with transitions and transition sounds just like those in Super Mario Bros. 3, and a jump sound like in Super Mario World, to name a few. These are backed by a cheerful synthesized soundtrack that works well enough but isn’t especially memorable. In fact, overall there’s very little here that manages to impress, but the game nevertheless has an undeniable charm, especially with the fun and often fourth wall-breaking dialogue Dadish has with his kids at the end of each level.

Despite the visual and audio references to the Mario series, Dadish doesn’t play much like Mario. Each level is usually fairly small and self-contained, though they get bigger as the game goes on. Usually these levels are laid out in the form of an obstacle course, occasionally with some light puzzle elements. The gameplay mechanics are fairly straightforward here too – Dadish can jump and double-jump, and can push boxes… and that’s really about it.

Okay, so I can copy-paste most of my review for the first game here, but it’s not like zero effort was made to progress this game beyond the first one. There are new environmental mechanics here, as well as some levels where players hop on their enemy-turned-friend Hamburgurglar for brief Auto-Runner sections. But once again the same issues as the first game still pop up – even though it’s all still fairly well-done, there’s nothing truly groundbreaking or extraordinary about this game beyond its presentation. And once again, $10 is a bit steep for a game that’s only a few hours long and not especially novel during those two hours.

Like its predecessor, Dadish 2 is a charming game, but much of that is due to its colorful presentation. Strip that away and what you get is still a fairly standard, unambitious Platformer. It’s not bad, and if you can catch a good sale on the game it may be worth a look, but there’s very little here to hold your interest outside of its adorable theming.

tl;dr – Dadish 2, like the first game, is a family-friendly Platformer about a dad radish on a journey to collect his errant kids. It continues to have an adorable, colorful presentation, but everything else about the game is still fairly by-the-book. Not bad, but there’s still very little here to set it apart.

Grade: C+

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