Hello, and welcome to our first installment of WASD Reviews. Today I have a very special game that I would like to share with all of you: Crypt of the NecroDancer by Brace Yourself Games (http://necrodancer.com/). Their studio name is quite appropriate, because this game is UNFORGIVING. There were many times playing it where I would constantly yell obscenities that would shock even the hardiest of men and women. So much so in fact, that I forgo attempting to stream myself alongside playing the game, because I didn't want to offend anyone watching. Especially those damn dragons...
But I get ahead of myself.
Let's take a step back and look at Crypts at a top level.
Crypts is a top-down 2D dungeon crawl...rhythm game. You hear that correct. It shares an odd relative with PaRappa and Theatrhythm. When I heard about this game, my first response was one of perplexity. I had played Rhythm melded games before, but nothing like this. The release trailer for this game looked completely absurd. It was a basic dungeon crawl game that appeared to take place in a 1970s discotheque. Honestly, the only reason I bought this game was because it was on sale for 10$ on Steam, I was bored, and I wanted to tear a hole in this game via review.
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| Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive. |
Your ultimate goal in this game is to traverse the many ever-changing dungeons as the young adventurer Cadence; chasing after your missing father. After being fatally wounded entering the crypt that your father previously disappeared into, a nefarious NecroDancer steals your heart, and curses you to live (and die) to the rhythm of the music.
Yeah, it sounds like a shoddy remake of Footloose, but honestly, the story is merely a backdrop for the amazing game play and style of Crypts of the NecroDancer.
There are four "Zones" which each contain multiple dynamically created floors (no run is the same as the last). On the fourth floor of each Zone, lays a mini-boss, themed after a type of music (ala Deep Blues, King Conga, Death Metal).
There is a constant music beat along with the action of the game, and moving off beat has a negative effect on score, gold (in game currency used for shops, upgrades) and battle scenarios. Stepping in-beat however, produces positive results - Multipliers for gold, damage, and other positive effects.
Each of the monsters within Crypts move along with the beat as well, and each monster type adheres to a specific AI, allowing you to learn patterns for enemies and how to defeat them. However, as you dig deeper into the crypts the AI becomes more complex, and enemies get significantly stronger. Some enemy AI even adapt to the weaknesses of their previous form. A green dragon has a basic follow and long distance claw attack AI, prompting you to run away and hit from a distance, However a red dragon has a fire breath attack that attacks you from a range, and a blue dragon, well... let's just say it doesn't get any easier.
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| You see this guy here. SCREW this guy.
The difficulty curve in this game will definitely turn off some players. It is unforgiving and can beat you down just as you think you are starting to understand it. But I think this is why the dynamic game play is so important. You could spend, like I did, hours upon hours in the first zone and still have a different experience every time you drop down into that "Zone 1" entrance. The constant updating and changing weapons, armor and items available also help with the replayability of each attempt. Crypts can be described as 'frustrating', 'hair-pulling' and 'dream-crushing', but it cannot be described as boring.
I had the opportunity the other day to stream some game play of Crypts, and I recorded it below for you to check out! There are two videos, one a short game play video, and the longer is the twitch.tv Stream that was live yesterday. The longer video has some breaks in it, and is substantially longer, but I implore you, if interested in the game, to check out both. The longer video has lots of me dying, and few mini-boss fights.
Along with the standard gameplay, Crypts has a handful of other modes, characters, and even the ability to import your own music, and have it reflect gameplay! For the purpose of today's review I'm only going into the basic gameplay and characters, but feel free to check it out yourself later, there is a TON going on with Crypts.
If you haven't made a judgment call on this game, here's a quick layout of the pros/cons of Crypts of the NecroDancer, and hopefully you can decide whether this game is for you.
PROs:
Diversity of game-play - No two dungeon runs are the same
Tons of custom weapons, items, and spells to wreck enemies with
Classic, but refined graphics - everything looks crisp, clean and organic.
Tons of game play choices - A dozen different characters, handful of game modes, and customization of your own music is pretty cool.
Soundtrack - It grabs you right from the start and never lets go
CONs:
The beat/step game play, while innovative, is a bit clunky and can take quite a bit to familiarize yourself with
The difficult curve is a big one, it starts out hard, and just gets harder and harder.
Would like a bit more diversity of enemies. The latter levels are just powered up and re-colored versions of the previous enemies, save for a few.
The boss battles could be more involved. Some of them were VERY fun, but others could be decimated in seconds if you had the right weapon (blunderbuss).
I want to thank everyone for tuning in, and reading my review of Crypt of the NecroDancer by Brace Yourself Games, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Stayed tuned for future reviews, discussion and heavily opinionated rabble on WASD blogs! Remember to follow us on Twitter @wasd_blog, as well as our Youtube and Twitch.tv Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/wasd_blogs
Over and Out,
Adam@ WASD Blogs
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