After a cleanup of my storeroom last year uncovered my old (and still working!) PSP, I've been slowly working through my library of games I've missed. This is one of the weaker games so far.
It shares a lot in common with a host of action RPGs, and even a little bit with Doom in its gradual transition from a sci-fi to a hellish aesthetic. But probably the one game it has the most in common with is a relatively less-known flash roguelike called Hack Slash Crawl. From the colors of the bars (red for HP, blue for MP/energy, and gold for EXP), to the equipment system, to the way midbosses are just bigger versions of regular enemies that hold three pieces of equipment, to the way treasure chests spit out their contents, the two games share an uncanny number of similarities. Now I can't hold that against this game; it came before Hack Slash Crawl after all. But what I can hold against it is that a decently-good flash game that was a budget knockoff of Alien Syndrome managed to somehow be far more engaging than the full-priced game that inspired it.
This game simply lacks the meaningful character progression and variety that make games of its kind addictive; it takes too long to level up, good loot is extremely rare, and while the different classes start with different stats and skills, they all share the same skill tree. Which means that if I were to hypothetically replay the game (I'm not that big a masochist), the only meaningful way my character would end up different would be my weapon specialization, simply because specializing in all the weapons is too big a skill point investment.
The only really bad thing about the game is its poor enemy balancing, with some enemies being far stronger than others. But its lack of 'dopamine moments' combined with its inflated length create an aggressively dull experience, and an extremely phoned-in story doesn't help. If I ever feel like revisiting this, I'll just play Hack Slash Crawl instead.
It shares a lot in common with a host of action RPGs, and even a little bit with Doom in its gradual transition from a sci-fi to a hellish aesthetic. But probably the one game it has the most in common with is a relatively less-known flash roguelike called Hack Slash Crawl. From the colors of the bars (red for HP, blue for MP/energy, and gold for EXP), to the equipment system, to the way midbosses are just bigger versions of regular enemies that hold three pieces of equipment, to the way treasure chests spit out their contents, the two games share an uncanny number of similarities. Now I can't hold that against this game; it came before Hack Slash Crawl after all. But what I can hold against it is that a decently-good flash game that was a budget knockoff of Alien Syndrome managed to somehow be far more engaging than the full-priced game that inspired it.
This game simply lacks the meaningful character progression and variety that make games of its kind addictive; it takes too long to level up, good loot is extremely rare, and while the different classes start with different stats and skills, they all share the same skill tree. Which means that if I were to hypothetically replay the game (I'm not that big a masochist), the only meaningful way my character would end up different would be my weapon specialization, simply because specializing in all the weapons is too big a skill point investment.
The only really bad thing about the game is its poor enemy balancing, with some enemies being far stronger than others. But its lack of 'dopamine moments' combined with its inflated length create an aggressively dull experience, and an extremely phoned-in story doesn't help. If I ever feel like revisiting this, I'll just play Hack Slash Crawl instead.