This pack features four games emulated in DOSBOX. Dangerous Dave (in the Pirate's Hideout): This game is not objectively good. It feels like an amateur Flash game that predates amateur Flash games, with unfair level design and trial and error gameplay. There are no continues, and you can't get anymore than three lives at a time, so if you game over, you have to start at the very beginning of the game. Yet, there's a simple charm to be had in its simplistic design. An early prototype of things to come, you can definitely see John Romero's design philosophy that carries heavily into games like Wolfenstein 3D. Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion: is the reason to pick up this collection. The game holds up really well close to thirty some-odd years later. The level design is top notch, and the reload mechanic is effective at building tension. While you can't save, if you game over in the latter portion of the game, you have the option of continuing at a previous level to try again, so all is not lost if you lose all your lives. If you get to the last level before the final boss, you can even get an endless cycle going if you keep failing, effectively resulting in infinite retries. The final boss is challenging, yet fair. Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue: At this point, Romero is no longer at the helm, and you can definitely feel it. Not quite as refined as Haunted Mansion with messy level design and goofy sound effects. The saving mechanic, while very much appreciated, makes the lives system absolutely useless. But that's okay, because challenge shouldn't be based on how many lives you have left. The game overall is good, but not as great as its predecessor. Dangerous Dave goes Nutz: is a game. Takes the previously established elements and crams them into a repetitive and annoying romp through an insane asylum with tons of overused repeating assets. Thankfully the game is far shorter than its predecessors. I guess the developers got tired of developing this game too.
