This is the fourth Dizzy adventure, and the first that wasn’t created by the original developers, The Oliver Twins. This one introduces a health bar, you no longer die instantly when touching hazards. The coins from the previous games have been replaced by diamonds, and they restore some of your health when you collect them. Other than that this game is very similar to the previous one. Perhaps it is because of the hand-off to a new developer, maybe they didn’t feel like they could take any large risks. Maybe it’s just that the series had found its footing in the previous game and there were no major issues to fix like the snorkel in 2, or the backtracking in the original.
In this one the Yolk Folk have all been transformed or captured by magic. One is turned into a bush, one has grown to such a size that they cannot leave the room they’re in, and one is caught in an Alice in Wonderland-style chess game where your controls are backwards. Some of the puzzles in this one are more involved as well, for instance to wake one of the characters up you need to place a lightning rod where they’re sleeping, and combine a magic lamp with a duster to summon a genie which causes a lighting bolt to hit the rod. There are more steps than just place item x at position y.
There is still the challenge at the end of the game to collect 30 of something, this time the diamonds. It’s significantly better this time though, only a few are hidden behind scenery, and they feel like they’ve been placed in conspicuous places.
At the end of the game you actually enter hell and encounter the devil. He is imprisoned in a wall of flames which was created by the wizard Zaks. He gives you a trident and tasks you with destroying Zaks once and for all. You then cast Zaks’ ring into the fires of Gehenna. I found that all a very surprising turn for the series. If I’d had 100 guesses about the plot in this game, I’d not have expected Dizzy to have been working with the devil. Very silly, and a lot of fun.