Dadish 3

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in Dadish Collection, along with Dadish and Dadish 2.)

Dadish 3, like its two predecessors, is a Platformer. Released on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2022, this is a game once again has players take the role of an anthropomorphic radish who needs to run through the game’s levels to collect all of his errant kids. And… I’m once again going to be repeating myself a lot here, because in many ways, this game could have simply been called “Even 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’s actually pretty catchy this time around, with catchy tunes like Gangalo Jungle and Pulvujo Desert. Overall, I felt like this game had a bit more polish than prior games in the series, with nice little animations throughout while still retaining the series’ wonderful charm, including even more 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 more 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 two games 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 various friendly characters, like the neglectful, empty-headed Tomatomom. But once again the same issues as the first game still pop up – even though it’s all still fairly well-done, this is still a pretty straightforward Platformer, and this time around it feels like the challenge level is starting to get far too steep for such an otherwise family-friendly game. 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 predecessors, Dadish 3 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 with an overly-high challenge level. 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 3, like the first two games, is a 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, and even at times a bit overly-difficult. Not bad, but there’s still very little here to set it apart.

Grade: C+

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