When comparing Dandara vs Crashlands, the Slant community recommends Crashlands for most people. In the question“What are the best Android games for Nvidia Shield?” Crashlands is ranked 12th while Dandara is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose Crashlands is:
For just the medium difficulty setting there is hours upon hours of content, and that's even if you skip all the side quests and just focus on the main story. Plus there are two harder difficulties to try and in the near future a tool will come out which will let you build your own adventures as well as play other people's.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fun gameplay thanks to unique wall jumping mechanic
Rather than running and jumping, all movement in Dandara is done through a unique wall jumping mechanic. This unique jumping is the heart of the game and what sets it apart from other platformers. You can jump to any wall, ceiling, or floor within reach, often bouncing among them in rapid succession like a ninja. The mechanic itself is simple, just aim and jump. However, this movement style makes shooting at enemies, dodging projectiles, or navigating each room a fun, unique challenge that isn't seen in other platformers.
Pro Great balance between movement and combat
While you do have a gun, it takes several seconds to stop, charge up, and shoot. This means whenever you want to dispatch an enemy, you'll have to stop moving completely for several seconds. It's not as easy as it sounds, since oftentimes dodging projectiles, working around moving platforms, and finding a safe spot requires some planning ahead. Sometimes, it may be better to just keep moving rather than killing every enemy in sight. As a result, Dandara's combat provides a balance and unique challenge not often seen in "run and gun" style platformers.
Pro Rewarding boss fights
The boss fights are exciting and fast paced battles that will put your mastery of the wall jumping movement system to the test. One particular fight has temporary platforms that spawn out of thin air, so you never know where they're going to appear. This requires some on the fly thinking as you'll not only be paying attention to the platforms, but also dodging the boss' projectiles and his minions. You'll have to be precise in your jumping and shooting. Every boss fight incorporates the fun wall jumping flawlessly and defeating each one feels like a true accomplishment.
Pro Hours of content just in the main quest alone gives the player plenty to do
For just the medium difficulty setting there is hours upon hours of content, and that's even if you skip all the side quests and just focus on the main story. Plus there are two harder difficulties to try and in the near future a tool will come out which will let you build your own adventures as well as play other people's.
Pro Pleasing graphics that show off a well designed and polished game
The graphics look nice and you can tell time has been put into designing them. While not the most flashy, there is a certain style to the whole game that makes for a very cohesive experience.
Pro Pick up from your last save, no matter the device you are using, thanks to the built in cloud saving
Playable on Android, iOS and PC you're able to transfer the one game between multiple devices (on same or different operating systems) and take it with you anywhere you go. with a Butterscotch ID (the devs self implemented cloud save system).
Pro Excellent progression system where you never feel like you are grinding too much
Progression never feels sluggish or rushed, everything has a good pace to it from the farming of materials and grinding out the various components for the tons of items, to the incredibly unique combat/interaction system, it all blends well into a long gaming experience.
Pro Hundreds items to craft in a deep and varied crafting system that will keep the user busy for hours and hours
There are over 500 items that can be crafted in the game, giving the player quite a lot to experiment with and explore when it comes to crafting items.
Pro Great soundtrack that suits the humor and setting of the game quite well
A great mix of chill and energized music, that fits the setting of the game at all times. A pleasure to listen to on its own as well.
Pro Multiple game modes
Once you've finished the basic mode there's also a challenging and insane mode for replayability.
Pro Good writing
You don't need to read everything to enjoy the game but the writing is very good and really adds to the enjoyment.
Pro Lots of entertaining pop-culture references
Cons
Con Map is hard to use
The camera rotates when entering new rooms/areas, however the map doesn't rotate to reflect this. As a result, it's hard to tell which direction you need to go in. The static map feel a bit useless at times.
Con Save points are scarce
Killing enemies awards salt which can be used to increase your health pool and upgrade your stats. However, you can only use salt at camps (save points) which are few and far between. Additionally, having to replay large sections of content and losing experience every time you die makes the game lose some of it's fun.
Con Major difficulty spikes
Dandara is a challenging game as it is, but there are some pretty sharp difficultly spikes in some areas that feel a little too punishing. This can be frustrating to some players who felt like they were making progress, only to hit these roadblocks.
Con Cloud saves not through Google services
An extra account will need to be used in order to take advantage of the cloud saving as it does not work with Googles solution to cloud saves. While this does allow for the cloud saves to work cross platform, people may not want to take the extra step to make a new account with Butterscotch Shenanigans.