5 Instant classic
This is exactly what i love in videogames : a simple basis, and loads of possibilities. Spelunky has the Rick Dangerous vibe, but without the random deaths. If you die in Spelunky, it’s only because you did something wrong. And the gameplay really walks on that thin line : will you just get to the end of the level, carefully avoiding everything, or will you put your character in danger by trying to get every single jewel ?
Spelunky is a game in every sense of the word : it’s entertaining, and it gives you the feeling that you’re the one who’s playing, that the computer’s not deciding anything for you.
Simply put, this is an instant classic.
3 of 3 people found
this review helpful.
5 This should be in an arcade. Period.
If this game was made put into an arcade machine, it would make millions of dollars in quarters. This is coming from a guy who usually thinks that games played mainly for the purpose of a highscore as oftentimes pointless.
This game’s sheer amount of content keeps me loving it. The number of items, enemies, and scenarios overall give it an overall fresh feeling every time you play.
Its presentation is equally great, with enemies/characters ranging from quirky to badass *cough*shopkeeper*cough*, all drawn in adorable pixel art. The character design is so great, that I can’t stop drawing pictures of the spelunker because of how fun he is to draw!
Graphics:5/5
The tiny pixel art is just breathtaking in how well done it is.
Sound:4.7/5
The soundtrack is great and catchy, but some tracks should be more consistantly upbeat like the others.
Entertainment Value:5/5
This game should be arrested for homicide of thousands of spelunkers. That’s how sucked into this game you can get. In addition, the Indiana Jones parody brings an element of humor.
Story:1/5
You’re cavediving…that’s it. That doesn’t ruin the game though.
Overall:5/5
Yet again: THIS SHOULD BE IN AN ARCADE.
1 of 1 people found
this review helpful.
5 1500 games later...
Since downloading it, I have played 1,515 games of Spelunky.
I have been victorious in 11 of them.
Partly that’s because after a few victories, I began attempting a speed run – but the ten minute mark has eluded me constantly, and as a result I started frequently quitting when it became obvious I wouldn’t make it. But mostly, this is because Spelunky is hard. Gloriously, painfully hard. Nintendo hard, if I may use the semi-official trope title. When you are playing Spelunky, you are usually ten seconds away from a horrible death around every corner, and that… is brilliant. Clay jars? Might be filled with spiders and snakes. Treasure chests? Possibly full of bombs. Golden idol? Indiana Jones homage. Shopkeepers?
…let’s just say you never, EVER mess with the shopkeepers.
The game uses randomly generated levels, with a built-in editor and the possibility of playing premades, but I say “heck with that”. The randomly generated levels provide more than enough challenge, are surprisingly balanced – usually – and have enough common traits that it’s never a chore to get through them. A gauntlet of death-lined walls, perhaps, but never a chore.
The graphics are simple, iconic, and do the job perfectly. The sound is chipper, even if the music slowly grates after a long while – take that with a grain of salt, as I said, 1500 games have passed since I started playing this. The controls are simple and responsive…
And the game is utterly addictive. Part of it is the challenge. Part of it is the four challenges – or five, unofficially. Beat the game in 10 minutes or less, kill 200+ enemies, save X number of damsels (8, I think), collect over $200,000, and buy all the shortcuts, and you’ve unlocked everything; with each achievement, you get a new thing to play around with, varying from bonus stages, to playing as the damsel instead of the titular Spelunker. The one bit that eludes me is the speedrun; as soon as I’ve got that, I’ll be unlocking an alternate game mode, playing as the Tunnel Man…
Well, I can’t really comment on that yet…
But I digress. Spelunky is a brilliant game, an instant classic in the genre. It should be played by everyone at least once. Go ahead. It’ll grow on you.
5 INCREDIBLE!
This game is so unique; it’s basically Indiana Jones and Mario combined, but trust me; you’ve
GOT to play it! I was totally addicted to this retro-like masterpiece.
The gameplay is rather interesting; the levels are randomly generated, you get to gather treasures, take down enemies, and rescue damsels in distress.
What happens with the money you get? Well, you can use it to pay for things, such as buying stuff for your quest and paying some guy to make a bridge!
It’s kinda interesting, and it makes a good anti-depressant to those who were disappointed in seeing “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull” on
DVD. But to be honest, despite all the fancy sci-fi stuff, I kinda liked the film, but this game is even better!
1 of 2 people found
this review helpful.
4 Too hard, but somehow that didn't stop me from playing it enough to die 700 times
What can be said about Spelunky that hasn’t been said already? It’s a platformer that’s also a roguelike and has randomly-generated levels. The randomness of everything keeps the game pretty fresh and the controls are very good once you get used to them. The graphics are good, and the music is pretty good (the ice level song is the best in the game
IMO). The stat keeping is really helpful and yes I’ve died over 700 times on this without a single victory. I’ve got all the shortcut tunnels unlocked but for the past 100 deaths or so I’ve been trying to reach the lost city of gold exclusively. I fought the big bad guy head thing a couple times in the past but haven’t been able to damage it yet.
The main thing about the game is its sheer difficulty. It’s very, very hard and a lot of that comes with the random nature of everything. For example just yesterday I was playing it again and I went a full 3 levels without bombs or ropes (which are pretty much essential items to survive this game). All I needed was one stinking bomb and I could’ve opened up the secret entrance to the black market, but no dice. And I was playing conservatively to boot! But there I was, 3 whole levels without so much as a crate or a shop to buy one and in turn I couldn’t advance much. (I ended up getting stuck in a pit and couldn’t climb out because I had no ropes.)
There’s a “Baron Von Blubba” in this game too- a big ghost- who appears when you dawdle too long on any given level. You can’t kill him. I hate this guy! One time I was able to do a ton of tricky moves and actually go up and around him, grab a pickaxe, do this crazy jump over him and barely escape with my life. It’s moments like these that make Spelunky really shine IMO.
However other moments just make you want to pull your hair out. Take for example the string of events to get to the Lost City of Gold- a quest I’m still trying to accomplish. Your first goal is to find the big key and chest on the “caves” section of the game, and get an item called the Udjat Eye. This not only lets you see where all the buried jewels are, it tweaks and squeaks later on one of the jungle levels when the secret black market entrance is nearby. You then have to try to collect a whopping $50,000 so you can buy the Ahnk of Life from said hidden black market. I was able to do this a few times but each and every time I only had 1 heart left and was killed, which wasted the ahnk. AHHHH!! The good news is that this whole sidequest is optional so you don’t HAVE to do it, thank god!
Spelunky is loaded with all kinds of awesome items to get. My personal favorites are the scepter which kills everything by floating the bejesus out of them (you’ll see), the climbing gloves that let you grab onto the walls (eliminating ropes for the most part), sticky bombs so your bombs will stick on the sides of walls or ceilings, and the machette. I had played an old version of the game and the machette sucked but it’s been vastly improved since. The slashing animation now swings overhead and helps you kill tough to hit enemies like bats or frogs.
There are some “cheap” instances in the game. The one I can think of right away are the yeti on the ice levels. If they grab you, you’re pretty much dead regardless of how many hearts you have. Way more than once I had one of those guys pick me up and throw me against the wall, just to rebound right back to him to throw me against the wall again, and come back to him just so he could throw me against the wall AGAIN, etc, etc, repeat until killed. It happens too much and even if you’re careful it can still happen. This is also the reason why I make a special point to use yeti on the altar of sacrifice every chance I get, mwhahahahaha!
A special note: I FUCKING HATE THE SPIDERS IN THIS GAME!!!! Seriously, not only are they unpredictable in their jumps, they follow you almost everywhere and are inside of breakeble pots ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. It’s to the point where I won’t ever break a pot past the jungle level. The possible rewards (jewels or gold) just aren’t worth that little bastard potentially showing up.
5 This... is... AWESOME!!!
How this game has managed to avoid its arrival upon this database for so long is an enigma wrapped inside of a mystery. This is possibly my favorite game.
Arcade Worthy
