1001 Spikes review for PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U

Platform: PS Vita
Also On: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Wii U
Publisher: Nicalis
Developer: 8bits Fanatics
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: T

I suspect that if you were to make a Venn diagram of โ€œPeople who like Spelunkyโ€ and โ€œPeople who like 1001 Spikesโ€, youโ€™d basically be drawing a circle. After all, the two games share quite a bit of DNA. Both are impossibly hard platformers. Both are heavily inspired by 8- and 16-bit games of yore. Both feature protagonists that look a lot like Indiana Jones, at least to the extent that little retro-looking game protagonists look like much of anything. I mean, there are a few relatively notable differences between the two, but as similar games go, these two are up there.1001 spikes

 

Of course, people with long, weirdly obsessive memories may recall that I wasnโ€™t too fond of Spelunky and, consequently, wonder if my feelings are the same towards 1001 Spikes. To be blunt: yep. In fact, Iโ€™d say my thoughts on the two games are almost identical. Much like Spelunky, I can see why some people like 1001 Spikes. Itโ€™s an insanely difficult platformer that never lets up; every jump is a leap of faith, ever platform seems like itโ€™s about to crumble, every wall hides deathly arrows and fire-breathing statues. Itโ€™s a demanding game, and if youโ€™re in the market for that sort of thing, 1001 Spikes will totally meet your needs. (Of course, if youโ€™re less fond of games that are constantly trying to kill you, then you might not enjoy it quite as much.)

As I said, though, there are a few differences between 1001 Spikes and Spelunky, and even if theyโ€™re seemingly minor, theyโ€™re enough that I can say I definitely prefer the former over the latter. Most obviously, thereโ€™s the core gimmick: for Spelunky, it was that every level was different every time, and you only had a couple of lives. In 1001 Spikes, by contrast, the levels stay the same, but you only have 1001 lives. That may sound like a lot, but, as I said, with all the ways this game can kill you, itโ€™s really not. However, because the levels always stay the same, thereโ€™s a least a sense of fairness here, however skewed; youโ€™re going to die frequently, but at least youโ€™ll be given the chance to figure out why you died and how to get around each and every trap.1001 spikes_2

 

On a broader note, 1001 Spikes definitely feels much more like a genuine game from the 8-bit era. By this, I mean that I could totally imagine playing this on the NES. The graphics, the music, the way the (surprisingly deep, plotwise) cutscenes are animated: all of them are straight out of 1988 or so, to the point that I could get in a time machine, show the game to 8-year-old me, and have 1988-Matthew think the game was just like everything else he/I was playing at the time.

Of course, in a way, that just means the game is just as much of 2014 as it is of 1988, since it can also be slotted squarely alongside the seemingly countless other tough-as-nails platformers that populate the modern-day gaming landscape. Does 1001 Spikes do enough to really differentiate itself from that crowd? Honestlyโ€ฆnot really, no. But if thatโ€™s your thing, then itโ€™s at least good enough that itโ€™s not a total waste of time, either.

Grade: B
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