Dino Run

For today’s Flash Game Friday, I want to present to you all another one of my favorites: Dino Run.

The premise is simple: run. What are you running from, you ask? Also simple: extinction. As the game begins, a meteor can be seen striking the earth in the background. The “doom” (fallout) immediately starts “chasing” you. Each level sends you on a mad dash away from certain death.

While the premise may sound deceptively simple (it really is honestly), the game actually has a lot of depth. There are little dinosaurs to eat, power up flowers to collect, and even secret eggs to find. By collecting/finding all that you can, you can level up your various abilities (speed, acceleration, jumping, and strength). Level up your speed to max, grab a speed power-up, and then use your speed boost for some wicked velocity.

As the game progresses, it becomes very difficult to escape extinction. The doom cloud moves faster and faster, the stegosauruses (stegosauri?) work hard to block your path, and the terrain gets ridiculous difficult to navigate. I definitely recommend you keep playing and trying to find to all the eggs… it really is a blast.

I think my favorite thing about this game is the great retro feel to it. I’m a huge sucker for old-school 8/16 bit games, and I especially love modern games that try to recreate that feel (I still desperately want to make one, so if you have art/design talent, let's mix in my programming skill and throw something together). PixelJam really nailed the old school vibe here.

For extra fun, see how long you can stay in the doom and how long you can ride on a tumbling boulder. I don’t remember my best doom surf, but I’m pretty sure it was in the 30 seconds range.

Have fun!