-An audiovisual style that reminds you of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Borderlands. -Gameplay that's like Spelunky, but minus the stressful rush to finish a level before the ghosts appear, and also without the multiplayer. The game has a few things in common with Terraria too, and even Angband. You descend deeper and deeper into a mine below an almost-ghost town, mining precious metals and gemstones while killing/avoiding baddies. Between your hauls you buy upgrades in town. Note that Steamworld Dig is much more simple and short than any game I've mentioned in this review, and also not that this didn't bother me one bit. I had a lot of fun the 7 hours it took to finish the game!
From your perspective: I lose more than one of my hard-earned powerups when I take damage?! - you've got to be joking! I survived THAT and still MORE coming, yet no checkpoint in sight?! - you've got to be joking! Even though I reached the checkpoint I have to defeat a boss before my state is saved?! - you've got to be joking! The boss killed me, and now I have play through all this again to even reach it?! - you've got to be joking! From the game's perspective: You want to keep your power-ups when you take damage?! - you've got to be joking! You want a checkpoint already?! - you've got to be joking! You want to save your state without defeating a boss?! - you've got to be joking! You want to try the boss again without reaching it once more?! - you've got to be joking! Recommended for those who like atmospheric graphics and music as well as an intense challenge. Not recommended for those living with significant others, parents, kids, flatmates or pets who get scared when you throw Donald Duck fits at the game.
I just love mythology and fairytales. in all shapes, be they "disnfied" or "grimmified". But the Grimm brothers themselves DID actually censor some of their fairytales, they just removed the sex but kept the voilence - maybe they were Americans? Okay, on to American McGee's Grimm (is this getting confusing?)! The game is a really simple platformer and not very challenging, but anyone who is into fairytales should love Grimm. If they have my kind of humour. And if they take the game for what it is.
One reviewer pointed out some limitations when it comes to modifying your controls (he or she had couldn't map mouse buttons, I can't map jumping to shift). Another reviewer pointed out that playing the game over and over with new heirs feels like level-grinding. True, true. But the game is still addictive. Unless you totally screw up you'll get to improve the stats of your descendants at least in some way for every death, and who can resist continous stat improvement? There's always some kind of carrot dangling in front of you when playing Rogue Legacy.
When I first pre-ordered this game I thought it was going to be a cave flyer like AUTS, Turboraketti or Wings 1-2 (if you never heard about any of those games, chances are you didn't play DOS games in Finland in the early 90s). While you do fly in caves in PJS too, the controls are a bit different; more responsive. The default ones allow you to move in cardinal directions with WASD and aim/use your weapon/grappling hook with the mouse. In multiplayer at least one of the players uses a gamepad and at least on my gamepads this means also the shooting's limited to the four cardinal directions. But you help each other out so handicapped aid is better than nothing, I suppose. MP over LAN or the internet is not supported. Your goal is to rescue people while flying about shooting monsters and collecting stuff. The main impressive feature of the game has to be the water and the way it flows. Like in games such as the latest 2D Worms game, you can make it flow your way by blowing holes in the landscape. The same applies to lava and when both liquids come into contact which each other, they solidify into destructable terrain. What the game in my opionion lacks are varied multiplayer options. As I said, 2P on the same computer's the only way of playing PJS in MP, and there is no DM, CTF or anything but coop either. Too bad, if you ask me, as I really can imagine a 16P PJS coop match being fun. The minimalistic electronic music doesn't strike a chord on my heartstrings either.
Sure, the single player "story mode" is short, but no shorter than that of Quake. And like Quake, you don't really need an awfully long single player "campaign". And this game has a lot of extra content! You can play the story mode in cooperative multiplayer. And then we have "arcade mode", where you complete various missions and aim for the highest rating. Not that you don't get ratings in "story mode", you do. And high ratings unlock more multiplayer skins. And... You can play against AI controlled bots in multiplayer. Rather uncommon when it comes to FPS games that aren't Unreal Tournament or Quake III Arena. There are bots in Unreal and in Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition (well hidden, you have to activate them with a command line prompt). Either way, bots are not common and it's fun to see them here. The industrial/EBM soundtrack is nice too, avalible for download with this game. So, yes, you do get a lot of content when you buy this game. But what kind of game is it? Well, for the most part it feels very old-school (which I LIKE). You circle strafe monsters and jump like a bunny to avoid getting hit. But you also fight humans, and then the game feels more modern. Then you duck behind covers instead of circle strafing, and you tactically take out the hostile ones. Then you arrest the ones who surrender. If you ask me, these changes in gameplay make the game more varied. Bottom line: Buy this game if you want some shooty fun!
