It was weird playing Spelunker as a kid. The little guy I controlled felt like a super weak version of Super Mario. Geez, he could hardly take a fall! Thanks to that, my 6 year old patience level just gave up on the guy and I moved on to bigger and better games. 20-some odd years later, Tozai Games brought back Spelunker in somewhat glorious HD and I decided to give the explorer another chance.
I find it extremely easy to fault Spelunker HD with not trying to break out of the original game's mold, but that would be too easy and boring to do in a write-up. Instead, I gave the game a chance to challenge me and heck, it sure did. Not exactly in the traditional challenging way most games do nowadays but with how weak the main character is. There's a steep level of challenge with just keeping the poor guy alive. The smallest misstep kills him instantly as well as microscopic pebbles falling from the ceiling or... ok, let's just cut it out. He dies thanks to just about anything.Even so, Spelunker HD still manages to bring a certain level of nostalgic charm. That's not thanks to the high definition makeover given to the original's blocky 8-bit graphics. The new looks work well in stills but they just feel weird in motion. The character animation throws me off during jumps and just frustrates me to no end.
But let's just talk about how the game actually plays. Spelunker is all about how far you can make underground at a time. Air is limited and the little spelunker is constantly harassed by ghosts, bats and even fellow explorers who want to get to the treasures before you. Thankfully, I was able to discover a way to somewhat save my progress the further I made down the levels through the nifty save state feature but that only took me so far. Lives ran out and I kept dying. That's how difficult and demanding Spelunker is. It's a fun but very punishing game if you're not careful.Bringing friends along might improve your odds. Sadly, I was unable to try that out for long since there's practically no one playing online and none of my friends actually own the game. If you do manage to drag a few friends along, you can have up to four simultaneous spelunkers running on screen at once and I'm sure that can be very fun and chaotic. I did find myself enjoying the sole time I was able to find a soul to play with randomly online.
Spelunker HD is a tough, challenging and extremely frustrating game that can be rewarding if you give it the patience and dedication it demands. It's extremely rewarding every time you make it to a new area further down along the earth. If you're the sort of guy who enjoys this feeling, Spelunker HD might just be your cup of tea. |7
