No, this review is not influenced by the fact that the (former) dev is a huge asshole. Yes, it's influenced by the fact that the devs promised features that aren't (and won't be) in the game. This game is one of those "it's like X combined with Y and a bit of Z", but where somehow all the bad parts of X, Y and Z ended up in the game, and not the good ones. The game looks awful, the "art" is basically BLOOM EVERYWHERE and LOL VOXELS, but not the good, real voxels like in voxatron, the shitty fake voxels like in minecraft, but somehow worse. And the menus and GUI look like something from a 2006 flash game made by a 14 year old on newgrounds. That awful "bloody" font in the title? It's everywhere. The gameplay is, like other review said, "Binding of Isaac meets Serious Sam". No, this doesn't mean "Over the top fun shooting in procedural generated rooms while unlocking awesome loot that changes the gameplay drastically". It means "Run backwards while shooting and ocassionally dodging, in a game that will enclose you in a room until you beat it. Fun not included". If you really, REALLY, want to play some procedural generated shootan, Try Tower of Guns. Seriously, do not buy this game. I bought this for 75 cents and I asked for a refund. That's how bad it is.
Let me start this review by saying the original Vertical Drop Heroes is my favorite flash game. It makes sense to think that an HD version would be my favorite game. But no. It's not. It's mediocre or worst, and I'm only givng it 3 stars because it has local co-op, otherwise it'd be getting a two. It's sad to write this review. I'm a huge fan of nerdook's work. It's probably not fair to review a game comparing it to an earlier free version of it, so I'll get that part out first. In the original game you controlled a hero with no skills, that could become different characters by freeing them from cages (rogue/wizard/berserker/etc.). Each character had unique skills. But, the progression system was a highlight. You could unlock perks for each character, so, even though you could play a fire wizard or an ice wizard (which played very differently), the "wizard" class was still well defined and different from the other classes. In the HD version, you start as a "randomly generated" hero, and only play as that one fellow. All heroes have access to the different weapons and skills, and after 2 or 3 plays, they start feeling "all the same" and get bland real fast. The progression comes from unlocking different weapons and skills, that barely affect the game. Except for skills like "double jump", all of them make no difference. Weapons suffer the same fate, besides bows and similar weapons, they make no difference on how you play. The game discarded design for randomness thinking it'd mean replayabilty, and sadly it does not. If you enjoy all these "rogue-lite" games indie devs are shitting out nowadays, you might find it interesting. Otherwise, play the free original one, save yourself some money, and have a good fun time.
