Download Drol

Tinyjenny 2020-12-26 0 point

I used to play this for HOURS with my sister too! Any way to buy this or get a new version that could run on iPhone or chrome book?

GoldenArcade(SSP) 80sGamer 2019-03-16 2 points

Another one my sis & I used to play. A decent and rather unique platformer, this one...

You are Drol, either a droid, or someone in a mini hoverpack suit...

Almost EVERYthing is dangerous; touch an enemy, you die; get hit by enemy shots / excretions (bouncing scorpions "shoot" poison from their stinger-tails), you die.

To stand a fair chance, you are (or your suit is) armed with a weapon of sorts, which can fire orbs which take out these enemies.

Usefully, you have a RADAR view of the whole playfield (at the top of the screen); everything is shown in simplified form, but bouncing enemies are still depicted as bouncing.

Unlike PacMan you can NOT "warp" through from one side to the other. Enemies come out from either side, and if you don't destroy them, they disappear back into the tunnels, at the other end. (They don't "warp" to the other side, either.)

Each "floor" has 1 or more "passthrough" trapdoors. They are NOT triggered from you walking on them, so they still act as "solid floor" when you want to just move over them.
To go through them, you must push DOWN on or UP against them. (To go UP, you should push up TWICE: once to go from walking to hovering, and a second time to activate/open the overhead trapdoor.)

Using a passthrough is not "absolute"; ie if you "change your mind" half-way, you can turn back the other direction. This is useful for dodging some enemies.

KEEP IN MIND, though, ANY part of you that touches ANY part of an enemy, causes you to die.

Sometimes, a young girl will be chasing her balloon, or a young boy (with a propeller beanie) chasing a toy helicopter, through a level. Apparently, it is a Good thing to "run into" them; I think it's to "rescue" them??

Anyway, it "screen-refreshes" the level, and puts you back on top, in the centre.
To stop them from getting away, pop the balloon / shoot the toy 'copter with your weapon -- they're left standing still .. in case you need to dodge baddies before you get to them..

As you "complete" levels (I don't remember what constitutes "complete"; it took me a while to get good at it, back then.. maybe it's the kids? but they only appear after awhile..) enemies which enter the scene change, and are increasingly difficult; some move a little faster, some may need more than 1 hit to take down, some may fire at you from more levels than JUST "low" (which you dodge by hovering) or "high" (which you dodge just by staying on the ground), so dodging them requires using a passthrough trapdoor!

I think the bird/buzzard may be indestructible(??) - avoid at all costs. (Or only try to shoot it when you have a trapdoor handy for quick escape!)

There's a MAGNET which flies through the level at some point; I think this one actually follows you through trapdoors, so you'll want to be far from it in order to avoid this indestructible baddie!

I think the dino-toy with the jetpack is Good? Grab/collect/"rescue"?? it..?? I don't remember.....

And when a Woman appears, bound, seated, and calling for HELP, in a lower part of a level, you just need to get down to her . . .

Only Enemies appear on the Radar. Neither the Kids, the Jetpack Dino-Toy, nor the Woman, appear on the Radar! You just gotta keep an eye out! If you miss them, you miss them; survive as long as you can, until you see them again.

DROL is worth a playthrough just for its absolute UNIQUENESS. It's NOT easy to make significant progress through levels; and there's no real "pattern" to "learn" to beat the game.. Enemies are rather randomised; and often they only fire when you're close. Not being able to see (what I now think are) your "rescue targets" on the Radar makes it that much more challenging.

Give it a go; come back and leave your impressions of the game here for others to see.
Dammit, now I have to go find an Emulator... :P