• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

Delicious, but deadly...

I’ll admit I haven’t played the original Spelunky, so I don’t really have that frame of reference going into this game. That said, I still enjoyed this game a lot and recommend it to anyone who enjoys platformers. However, there are a few caveats, namely that you are going to die a whole lot.

My death count after about an hour of playing.



The original Spelunky is a game by Derek Yu, in which you play the role of an Indiana Jones style adventurer searching an ancient ruin for swag, or maybe trying to die a glorious death given the survival rate. In Tastes Like Spelunky, you instead play as one of the monsters from the original game, the ManTrap, a red flower with an insatiable appetite for flesh. Search the ruin for tasty food to east, especially humans! But the hero of the original version is still lurking somewhere in the depths of the ruins, and woe betide the player who stumbles upon him unprepared.

Balance and Level Design 4/5:

The game is a platformer, primarily, but it also contains many rogue-like elements, namely the randomly generated levels, enemies and treasure, a variety of ways to interact with your environment, open-ended ways to solve problems, and shopkeepers who are several orders of magnitude stronger than the local dark gods.

You begin the game with a single life, and if you die, it’s back to the beginning (though there are ways to open shortcuts if you are persistent.). You have only three HP and some hazards take away more than 1 HP per hit, and considering virtually everything that isn’t a rock is trying to kill you (and some rocks that are!) you can die very quickly if you are not careful. In the original Spelunky, regaining HP was very difficult, the only way to do so was saving the various maidens being held prisoner in the ruin (or sacrificing them to Kali, but that's another matter.) This mod makes things a little easier by being able to recover health any time you eat a human. But you still can’t be careless.

In most levels you start towards the top of the screen and work your way down. You take damage if you fall too far so you must jump carefully. Sometimes your way is blocked by rocks or obstacles you cannot jump over, but you start with a supply of “vines” which you can use to climb over obstacles, and “Bud bombs” that you can use to blow through walls. There are many hidden treasures throughout levels and there is no “right way” to solve any given level. If you want to live for more than thirty seconds though, you generally just want to find the exit as quickly as possible.

The game is full of enemies and traps which require patience and thought to defeat. You can kill most enemies by jumping on them, or by attacking them with your melee attack (a vine whip). You can also trick enemies into tripping traps, or throw the various rocks and urns found in the caverns at them (this is also a handy way to trip those pesky dart traps!) If you knock a human unconscious, you can eat them to regain health (some people don’t like being eaten though). Running around recklessly can get you killed very quickly though, so it always helps to examine your situation thoroughly before acting.

There are some fundamental differences from the original version, however. The various shopkeepers that spawn in the dungeon will not do business with you, as you are a man-eating monster. You can try to steal their wares if you’re feeling particularly stupid bold, but they will try to defend their shop. Various damsels can be found in the game too, but instead of rescuing them, you can feast upon them. Jerk.
There are also various tools that spawn randomly in the world. These can range from mattocks to hack through walls, grappling hooks to circumvent needing vines, or a magic cape to let you glide smoothly down when jumping and avoiding fall damage. There are also various weapons and firearms that can greatly enhance your chances of survival. Finding one of these tools is generally going to be the key to your success. Without one, you probably will not get far, but acquiring one will often allow you to delve much deeper into the ruins.

Fashionable AND functional!



All in all the raw gameplay makes for an addictive and creatively satisfying experience that occasionally rewards you for being clever. For example, I once killed a shopkeeper with a rolling boulder trap. That was a good run…

Storyline 3/5:

There’s no real story going on here, you’re a plant looking for his dinner in a cave where everything is trying to kill you, and that’s about it. It’s possible there were some bosses or story related scenes deeper in the ruins, but I was not skilled enough to get there. And that is perhaps the only real problem with the game, it is very easy to hit a streak of bad luck and lose all your progress. For some people, starting from the beginning every time is part of the appeal of rogue-likes, but if this play style doesn’t appeal to you, you may not enjoy the game as much. Sometimes you just don’t find what you need, sometimes the RNG is out to get you, and the “Yet Another Stupid Death” phenomenon is here in full force.

Little did I know that when I took this screenshot, I was about to learn the hard way that UFOs explode when they die.



However, the game itself is open-ended and the content is always randomly generated to ensure each playthrough is a completely different experience, so take heart. Next time might be easier!
Of course, you’ll still probably die.

Music and Sound 4/5:
The music is light-hearted and upbeat and energetic, setting the tone nicely for your thrilling adventure. The music changes in every area so it never gets repetitive, although you’ll probably be hearing that first song an awful lot…

The sound effects are well done as well. After hearing the RTP sound effects almost five dozen times you start to welcome anything new! Everything is appropriate and well placed.

Overall 4/5:

In general, the game seems to be very similar to the original, with just a few twists thrown in that seem to make the game a little easier overall. If you’re looking for a fun platformer experience, this game can be a very satisfying experience. But people who hate rogue-likes or are easily frustrated by frequent deaths may not enjoy this game as much.

Posts

Pages: 1
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Yay, thanks! I posted a link to this review on the Spelunky Forums. Hope you don't mind!
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
Not really, though I suspect I'll look like an idiot to them!
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Soli, their survival rates are no better than yours. I assure you.
halibabica
RMN's Official Reviewmonger
16873
Man, is this ever a spam magnet.
Pages: 1