Game Review: Dynamix (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Dynamix started out as a game with a different name entirely – Kinetix.  The game was pitched to publishers under that name and already had the music from Jeroen Tel included when it was being pitched.  Games That Weren’t were able to salvage the work disk from Ashley Routledge, which showed the original Kinetix name.  Why the name changed to Dynamix is unknown, and if you do know the answer, please do get in touch.

Metal Dance

The basic plot of Dynamix is explained on the instructions that are part of the game’s title sequence – and are better than what the inlay says – not least because you do not just have to follow the computer’s movements exactly.  There are two halves of the screen, with your side on the left and the computer on the right.  You can see a yellow platform which is in effect your metal scale.  At the top there are five pistons, underneath which there are balls of different weights.  You must select the piston, which then slams down and knocks the ball underneath onto the metal scale.  The larger the ball, the heavier it is and drops the scale further down.  You must level the scale with the computer’s scale I order to complete each level.

Scaling Up and Down

Once you start the game, a lengthy and impressive in-game piece of music by Jeroen Tel plays, which lasts over twelve minutes long.  The computer opponent gets a head start on you by dropping the first two or three balls from its pistons before you start, and then you can do the same.  Moving the joystick left and right selects the piston, and pressing fire releases it on to the ball, dropping on to the metal scale.  Sometimes you may find that dropping one large ball can level out straight away, but often it is good co-ordination to work out which sized ball can get you closest to levelling the scales.

Balls of Steel

As you progress, the scales move up and down smoothly depending on what ball weight you have dropped.  Once level, the gauge in the middle shows white, and any time left is added to your score as the level completes.  With each level, the time reduces and the computer also gets faster, often dropping balls from pistons in quick succession, so you need to have the wits about you.  The music does get more frantic as you play too which adds to the sense of urgency, and the game will end if your time runs out or if either scale hits the very bottom of the screen, indicating far too much weight on one side, so definitely do not just slam the largest one on all the time.

Heavy Metal

The frantic pace gets even more so around level 10, where the time limit becomes your biggest opponent as you try to get those metal scales balanced.  It does get to a point where you may reach and get no further, or the interest may wane after repeated plays, as the concept is simple and easy to pick up and play but there are no additional features apart from the decreasing time limit and increased computer speed.  Maybe more balls from the pistons (say 6 and then 7 different weights instead of 5) could have also added some variety to the game.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Dynamix are very good – from the logo on the title screen to the main in-game graphics, where the backdrop just adds to a nice visual effect, even if that part is a static screen.  The animation of the balls being slammed from the piston on to the metal scale is excellent, and feels very smooth at all times.  There are no sound effects, but you get three very good pieces of music from Jeroen Tel – a funky title tune with the right amount of bounce, the lengthy and dramatic in-game soundtrack which keeps you going, and a nice high score tune should you play well and get there.  All of this adds to the polish nicely.

Final Thoughts

Dynamix seems a simple enough puzzle game where you balance the scales, but once you get into it, it does become quite addictive as you attempt to get the right balls from the pistons to balance quicker, and get a larger score because of it.  The presentation and excellent music add to the polish, along with speed increases and timer reductions, but you may end up getting a little bored after a while due to not being much extra variety after that.  It does show that Ash and Dave were a polished programming team and their games were usually of a reliable quality – this was no exception.  If you want to try out another of their games, see their excellent conversion of Gaplus.

Although official conversions for the Spectrum and Amstrad followed from the Commodore 64 original, there was also a homebrew conversion for the Commodore Plus/4 (or Commodore 16 with 64K RAM expansion) – and this can be found over at Plus/4 World here – https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Dynamix

* * *

You know what we think but why not share your thoughts on this game! Let us know what you think of it in the comments below, or add your own score using the slider in the summary box at the top of the review!

Please follow and like us: