Just released from Nitrome, creator of Skywire and Hot Air: a brand new physics-based action game, Dangle. In Dangle you control a spider hanging from a neon pink line of webbing. By swinging back and forth you must work your way down each stage, avoiding enemies and collecting coins along the way. Dangle has some of that same Nitrome magic we've come to expect in all of the company's releases. Only this time it's a little more arachnid-like.
Control the spider's sway by moving the mouse left and right, gaining momentum with each tug. To climb back up the web, move the cursor above the spider and click. To descend, just point the cursor down and click. The spider will stick to platforms it stands on, so you'll need to climb back up and restart your swing from time to time. It takes a few stages to get used to, but fortunately Dangle keeps the difficulty quite low for several levels to let you get the feel of things.
But of course it's never just a straight drop down. You'll need to weave your way around platforms, often using trial-and-error to discover the only path forward. Fans, spikes and enemies don't make your day any easier and constantly threaten to take away your precious little spider life. Sometimes a heart will be hidden amongst the coins, so keep an eye peeled for those valuable gems.
Your only goals in Dangle are to collect coins, score points, and complete every stage. Fairly straightforward, but the challenge comes from the arcade-style swinging and enemy avoiding.
Analysis: With a studio as respected (and productive) as Nitrome, its main competition will always be itself. It's almost impossible not to compare each successive game with the last, which is unfair in some ways, as the games are not necessarily meant to fit together. It's the price of continually setting the bar of quality/fun higher with each release.
Viewed as a standalone game, Dangle really wouldn't have any flaws (except, perhaps, being too simple at times). But putting it in a lineup next to Scribble and Frost Bite makes me squint my eyes with scrutiny. Compared to Nitrome's other games, Dangle turns down the color palette quite a bit and strips some strategy from its gameplay. It's also easier to complete and as a result feels much shorter. None of this takes away from the enjoyment of the game, of course.
Short, creative and more fun than playing with spiders should be.
Dangle is the first game from Nitrome to be released as part of a new relationship with MTV. The game may also be played at the MTV Arcade.
:) It's really easy. But also fun i like game overall, simple yet fun. Yay Nitrome, can't wait for more games especially Hot Air 2.
Reasonably fun game, gets frustrating, especially when you keep clicking the stupid banner ad on the side.
i like the giant COIN! sign at the end of level 3!
I agree with Jake... I had been playing for all of ten seconds before I accidentally hit the banner ad. What with all the back-and-forth swinging involved, that can be a big problem.
if the game is played over at the MTV Arcade it is in a pop up without the side banners...
I didn't have a problem with the ad banners but I didn't enjoy the game, and neither did my daughter. We were both very pleased to see a new game by the team over at Nitrome, as we enjoy their games, but this one just didn't appeal to us :(
The controls on this game are weirdly unresponsive. I'm pretty sure it's doing what it's designed to do, but I think it's just designed badly. Using the cursor keys instead of the mouse would make this game way more fun that it is.
I have to say I agree with Berimon. The controls are quite unresponsive, Especially the up / down part, I feel like I have to click and hold 10 times before it actually responds to me holding the mouse down.
The up down control is also a bit counter-intuitive, for me at least. I keep trying to rightclick for up. A keyboard control scheme, especially since you only have up down, left and right, would be a very welcome addition to this one. It doesn't seem like the game keeps into account how far your cursor is away from the spider to base climbing speed or swinging speed on, so it shouldn't be too much hassle... I think. Mind you, I only know how to play games, not make them.
Yeah, this one is just a little too frustrating to control. Or maybe "not fun to control" would be a better description. It's a novel idea and great on paper, but in reality it just seems like too much of a chore. There were times when my spider refused to swing very far no matter how I swung my mouse and other times when he just went crazy as I was trying to get him to stay still.
Nitrome gets good marks for effort and idea on this one, but it just wasn't that much fun to play.
Cute idea, but like others have said, control is a big issue.
Maybe it takes some getting used to, but I think it's just too unresponsive.
Deadl0ck makes a good point: maybe keyboard control is the way forward.
The two main problems for me are:
1. Oftentimes it somehow thinks my mouse is above the spider when I click when it is visually below the spider.
2. I don't like how the spider just stops when it lands on ground, you'd think you could slide, or crawl back and forth.
The spider seems to enjoy crawling up and hate crawling down, which is very annoying when you have to time the downward movement with the swings.
one reason i don't like this game is the pure fact that if you go off of the game with your mouse, then click an ad, it goes to a different page and you lose your score.
is there a fix for this, jay?
I have a 'fix' for the accidental clicking on the banner adds (which I also found very frustrating). I simply shrink the browser window down so that it just fits the game window then center with the scroll bars. Make sure that the browser window is not over any other open apps (an empty desktop works well) and then the worst that can happen is that you click off the game and the spider stops swinging around.
It is a bummer to have to do that every time the game starts, but I am used to it - with my spastic clicking I have to do this with a lot of browser-based games.
yeah i also had a game popup which wasnt to do with the game
took me a while to find out that it wasnt the game and found the original game on another page (silly me)
well yeah its a fun game but rather slow for me, but i think the time bonus is really daft! its way to short >.<
I'm just posting to agree that if you could use the arrow keys it would be a much better game. As it is, there are many times that I was very frusterated when I was swinging my mouse, the spider is stationary and then it goes crazy and gets itself killed.
Has anyone else had any problems with level 11 on the MTV hosted version? On several occasions Ive been playing and have "died" for no apparent reason when all my lives were still intact.
Has anyone noticed the cheat:
When the spider dies, you see a button saying 'Try Again'. If you press that, you start the level again BUT with 100 points more! The game just gives you 100 points every time you die! You can die, try again, die, try again, die, try again...
This gives you an impossible amount of points, up to 99,995 of 'em.
Maybe this is how SOME people get huge amounts.
I cannot get past level 5!!! This is the most frustrating game I have ever played =(
1/5 >:(
This is one of the only nitrome game I hate.
I can't get past level 2. >=[
Can anyone help with level 13? I can't get past it!!
Never mind, beat the game.
Uhh cant get past the last bit of level 10 :S
All those spikey balls :S What way to I go? Also, whats the best way to avoid that jelly thing?
I COMPLETED IT! This game was fun but in later levels began to annoy me to no end, I'm glad I finally completed it I was about to give up. My spider kept going up when I clear ly told to go up but other then that it was an O.K. game.
It's really hard sometimes, it's one of my favorites from Nitrome though.
the little spider is just so cute!
any help with level 10?
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