Spelunky

By: Robert Murphy

Did you ever use to watch the Indiana Jones movies and yearn to go off on your own adventure to a far away land, exploring strange ancient ruins and find a secret treasure? Well I did too until I started playing the plucky little game called Spelunky. The game truly knows how to bring out your inner controller smashing feelings by putting you in the shoes of a cartoon looking character and environment that is doomed to kill you. The friendly and deceiving back drop for the game is set in ancient ruins of some unknown desert and you, the adventurer, are allowed to wonder the ever changing levels in search of jewels, gold and mysterious idols that are probably worth a pretty penny too. Getting out alive with all your gold is the tricky part though as snakes, spiders, giant boulders, ancient angry Gods and even ghosts want you dead and never allowed to escape with your new found fortune.

Perhaps, what is great about Spelunky is the learning curve that it takes to play it, this is how I viewed it anyways. Levels for the game are always changing and you never really know what you're expecting, you pick up the tricks each time you play but if you aren't paying attention, an old trick can still get you killed. Your character is given a set amount of health at the beginning of your first cave which is four, four hits you're allowed to take and unless you happen to save a damsel in distress and get he/she out of the cave with you, then that's what it will stay at. You are not completely defenseless in your efforts though, your characters starts out with a classic Indiana Jones style whip to take out snakes and spiders. You also have a standard set of tools that any explorer would bring, some grappling hooks and explosives will help you either blow a way to your exit or some hidden treasure and the hooks get you where you need to be or prevent you from falling to your death. 

The way you play each time can also change drastically with each playthrough, it took me a few times before I ever saw my first wheel of misfortune which you can pay gold to spin and try to get the jackpot or a special gift and most likely lose a lot of gold trying in the first place. There are also shops that are spread throughout the levels for you to spend your gold on and get items such as machetes, shotguns, more bombs, sticky bombs, parachutes, all sorts of things to make the strain of cave diving feel easier. You can also opt to try and steal from this lovely man but do so at your own risk for each level their is usually a shop and they all remember what you do. Then of course, when you eventually die and lose all these wonderful items you will probably want to pull your hair out. Items like these though can sometimes be found in chests or gained by killing things such as giant spiders, which you don't want to meet but absolutely will. 

These are all nice but as I said, they only serve to give you a false sense of security. Getting through the different levels gets harder and harder but also the levels vary each and every time. You wouldn't expect your first level to sometimes start off completely pitch black, yep, there are levels like this and you must find a torch to carry to light your way while avoiding all the dangers you faced before. Carrying things adds a challenge to things too, you can only carry one item at a time and so you will sometimes have to choose, either take the powerful machete or see where you are going. Save the damsel or take the mystical golden idol that you risked your life for. The choice is up to you. 

For added fun, you won't have to take on the adventure alone, Spelunky offers up to four player co-op for your diving pleasure. Each player has the same amount of lives, bombs and tools and one player is the chosen leader who you must stay close to or perish horribly and alone, gruesome for such a cartoony looking game, right? Players can also turn on one another, a friend of mine just so happened to find a machete and went on a friendly murder spree with it, it was both funny and terrifying. Your character then becomes a floating ghost who can blow gusts of wind to mess with the living until you happen upon a coffin that will bring them back to life. Then, there is also a four player multiplayer mode on top of this, players are put into a map and use bombs and weaponry to harm one another, last one standing wins. 

Spelunky is a game that tests your patience, you have to think logically and try to better each time, while remembering that if something looks unfamiliar, it's probably going to kill you. Reaching the end of the game seems like an impossible feat if I am being honest but you really won't care because the whole thing is so maddeningly fun as you travel through every unique level, trying to get as much gold in your grubby little hands as you can. Every time you play Spelunky, it is something new and exciting and that's why I love it. 

Good:

- Ever changing levels and designs

- Unique tools, items and collectables

- Traps are ingenious and while they're easy to figure out, you can still die on the simpiest one if you aren't playing it smart

- Four player co-op for you and your friends

Bad:

- Nothing as far as I am concerned

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Sixty Second Shooter Prime

By: Robert Murphy

Anyone who has spent their time searching through the Xbox arcade before will have undoubtedly come across a game called Geometry Wars which pits a tiny ship against waves of increasingly difficult enemy ships and challenging events. The game style is not something new and while searching through the Xbox One arcade recently I discovered a game that struck me to be in similar fashion, Sixty Second Shooter Prime. In this adaptation of this twin stick style of game you play as a small ship that also progresses through waves of enemies that include enemy ships, spiral like objects, giant three dimensional cubes and much more. Your goal is to hopefully progress further and further to higher levels trying to survive and reach a larger score than the last time with your missiles and guns by your side.

Besides Geometry Wars, I have played a number of this style of game before and it truly can be a hit or miss type of thing to play especially with how limited it can be for those making the game. When it comes to Sixty Second Shooter Prime we see examples of just how limited things can be but can still see the fun to be had. Much of the games graphics are basic and feature simple shapes for your ship and your enemies as well, it feels like many of them could be drawn on a napkin by someone trying to make cool three dimensional shapes. The backgrounds are not any better, lumpy clouds, dizzying arrays of random colors and stark lines that cut randomly through the playable field make things not only confusing but very unimpressive to play on. These and other features such as different songs can be selected in the main menu for the game but this doesn't make the game any more impressive to play through if you're hoping for more appeal in a different background. Other visual effects that will come as you fight to survive through the waves of enemies include the large explosions that come with so many other games like it. This can be caused by hitting a very high combo which explodes everything in the nearby area in a chain reaction, while this is great to accomplish it the joy can be immediately taken away by the confusion of the explosion leading you to hit an enemy you didn't see. 

Getting into the gameplay, Sixty Second Shooter Prime plays like a game that wants to rush through it because you either die instantly or you have to hurry up and make a large score before the time runs down. It isn't to exciting when a game puts a time limit over your head especially when the time frame is sixty seconds, it causes a panic almost with a player and I believe that's why many games have done away with it entirely. Never the less you must try and climb through the levels with your odd space ship destroying everything using bombs, missiles and guns hoping for a higher score each time. You can also collect a variety of power ups such as time slow down, invincibility, multipliers and additional missiles, this was one thing I really thought was stellar about the game and helped make me feel the addiction that the game meant to give off. Another addition that helps the game is the Infinity Mode that takes you away from the panic and the short lived momentum of the 60 second mode and lets you add more time through power ups the longer you survive. 

In conclusion, Sixty Second Shooter Prime is a let down of a game especially when you look at some of the competitors it has and the other games that have been around with twin stick format. The game isn't at all that expensive though and can provide you with some amusement for a short time but that is about all you get with the amount of content the game has in store for anyone who purchases it. Maybe if the game gets a little more work put into it it could have some potential but outside of what you have right now I can't see anyone playing for too long. 

Good:

- Can be enjoyable when you get going like any twin stick shooter

- Power ups are fun and add to the minor addiction 

- Infinity Mode helps break up the short gameplay

Bad:

- You will feel rushed while playing through most of the game

- Visuals and graphics are very unimpressive

- Lack a lot of content, you will unlock everything in an hour of playing

Scully Rating: 4.0 out of 10