Review by Jon Donnis
Dexter Stardust is to be released on March 3rd on Nintendo Switch, and I was given a copy to review from the very good people at Flynn's Arcade.
Synopsis
"Space! Dexter Stardust barely escaped when the Vreesians, inhabitants of the menacing Planet X, sent a fleet of robots to destroy all life on Earth. Now, twenty years later, a mechanical man from the 10th planet seeks to communicate to Dexter a very important message - he is the key to saving both humans and Vreesians. Play the taco-loving Dexter Stardust as he, and his good friend Aurora, go on the greatest adventure of their lives and discover the mystery of the Robot from the Planet X!"
Dexter Stardust is your classic point and click adventure game, whereby you need to interact with your surroundings, solve puzzles, and move from scene to scene.
There are over 100 scenes in the game, and the game on Switch consists of all 5 episodes. Each episode acts as a new story that all connects to the main overriding story.
The game starts off with really well animated cartoon scenes, you play as Taco loving Dexter, a delivery driver in space who keeps getting himself into trouble, and once you get into the game proper, the first task will have you trying to get back to Aurora, and meet her at the house after you somehow end up in a ditch, you will then need to use your surroundings to help you navigate, and solve the puzzles, for example in the first area you find yourself in, you will notice some clay on the floor, so pick it up, in the next scene put the clay in a mould, to create the mould of a gun, then put clay mould in the sun to dry it, then fetch some wood for a handle, put mould in 3D printing type machine, switch machine on, and now you have a working gun, which will allow you to shoot a giant tentacle, and progress further.
As you can see, the puzzles are very logical, and nothing is too obscure, a bit of common sense, and straightforward thinking and you will find yourself able to solve the various problems.
The game itself is family friendly, and the controls are simple enough on a Nintendo Switch. The voice acting however is a bit rubbish. I hate to be harsh here, but at times it does feel like you have people whose English is their second language, are just sat in a small room, reading from a script. With that said, you will get used to it, and it is not really a big deal, nor will it stop you from enjoying the game. Plus, I tend to play with the sound off and read subtitles anyway, as I like to listen to music while i play video games. So, for me it wasn't a big deal.
The Good
The graphics, the animation is all brilliant, top quality, the puzzles are straightforward, which means that frustration is kept to a minimum. There will be no moments of throwing your Switch across the room as nothing makes sense, which has happened to me before in other point and click games, not mentioning any names, but Larry, I hate you.
The Bad
Some of the voice acting is a bit naff, but on a smaller budget I totally understand, and it really is the only complaint I have about the whole game.
Overall
This really is one of the better point and click adventures released in recent times. Very impressed.
I score Dexter Stardust on Nintendo Switch a strong 8/10
Release date: 03/03/2022 - £9.99
