Today I'll be talking about Spelunky- mostly the original game, but also a bit about the newer HD one.
Firstly, I should say, I'm absolutely horrible at this game. I realise the game is meant to be very unforgiving, so I'm not sure if I'm more horrible than most people or not, but I don't usually get past the caves. That said, I have spent a large amount of time trying, so through excessive effort and shortcut tunnels (plus a let's play of the game), I've seen most of it- at least, the original game.
Spelunky is honestly quite a fun game. I'm tempted to compare it to The Binding of Isaac- when I first played that, I could never get to mom, but after a point I became easily able to win most runs. If it is the same, though, I've yet to reach that point, as I said earlier- I never get far at all. The games have nice graphics- the two are very different stylistically, but both good- and the first game has some catchy music (I can't speak for the HD remake, since I usually play with my own music on. For all I know, it's just as good). The game itself is relatively simple- you descend through a cave with a whip, ropes and bombs, avoiding enemies and gathering treasure. There are a fair number of collectible items though, and some side tasks to do (like sacrificing cavemen), especially in the newer game.
Spelunky primarily has 4 stages, not including the side ones. There's the caves, the jungle, the ice caves, and the dungeon (those may not be the official names, but it's what I call them). The caves are relatively simple- there are snakes, spiders and the occasional caveman, and not too much in terms of secret content. The jungle is a bit more complicated- there are piranhas, cavemen armed with boomerangs, frogs (some of which explode), man-eating plants and more. My personal favourite is the ice cave- it only really has two enemies, namely yetis and UFOs, but between their behaviour and the overall atmosphere, it's got a strange sort of appeal. The dungeon, from what I remember, is also a bit limited for enemies, though it does have a lot of other hazards.
It's really hard to accomplish much in Spelunky. Simple things can end your run immediately- a bomb going off in the wrong place can break a block under you, dropping you into spikes; a yeti can throw you off the edge, or into a UFO; a dart trap can shoot you off a large drop; there are countless ways to die, really. That said, it's very fun to mess around in. If you can be in the mindset of laughing at what happens, rather than getting annoyed, it's a great way to spend some time. I still believe the ice cave is the best place for this though- with yetis that throw you, springboards that bounce you, and UFOs that explode, there's a lot of potential for interesting deaths.
Anyways, that's gonna be it for today- hopefully you enjoyed this post! And who knows- maybe some day I'll record some footage of playing the game, when I get the software set up properly.
