The Deep Cave Xbox Live Indie Review
There's not a whole lot to say about The Deep Cave given it's simplicity, but in my mind it's yet to receive the attention that it deserves. The Deep Cave is a side-scrolling platformer released on the 'Xbox Live Indie' channel on November 23rd 2010. The intention behind The Deep Cave is easy to recognize; to brutalize the player with it's high difficulty level. Expect to die many times on you're first play through, however it's difficulty largely remains fair and is mostly devoid of trial and error gameplay. There are (thankfully) unlimited continues and each new screen acts as a checkpoint, but The Deep Cave does keep track of you're death count and will remind you of it each time you die. Speaking of death there are no long death animations or tiresome game over screens to trudge through, when you die you can respawn in a matter of seconds. I would say that the difficulty is a bit higher than VVVVVV, and is somewhere closer to Super Meat Boy.
The Deep Cave shouldn't take too long to beat, but there's no denying that you get bang for buck considering the price of 80 Microsoft points (which is usually equal to one dollar). The gameplay is simplistic and the jumping mechanics feel precise, however there is a bit of a problem with the difficulty curve. There are some screens which spike significantly in difficulty, and I was surprised just how easy the last few screens were. There are also some traps and obstacles that can feel somewhat random, which were usually the parts that I found myself stuck on. The soundtrack is the highlight of The Deep Cave, and has some of the best modern 8-bit songs I've ever heard (made by 'FearOfDark'). The story is very basic and the aesthetics of the cave are grimy (though thankfully not devoid of color), but the soundtrack really gives it an atmosphere of it's own. There's just something beautiful about navigating through the hostile and unforgivable caves.
The Xbox Live Indie channel can be a bit intimidating given how amateurish some of the game's available on it are. But The Deep Cave easily feels like a five or ten dollars game on steam or the Xbox live Arcade. Obviously if you don't like platformers or challenging platformers then by all means steer clear of The Deep Cave. But if you've enjoyed games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, I Wanna Be the Guy, Rayman Origins, N/N+, Mute Crimson etc. then this is a solid recommendation. The Deep Cave is the best one dollar and Xbox Live Indie game that i've ever played.
There's not a whole lot to say about The Deep Cave given it's simplicity, but in my mind it's yet to receive the attention that it deserves. The Deep Cave is a side-scrolling platformer released on the 'Xbox Live Indie' channel on November 23rd 2010. The intention behind The Deep Cave is easy to recognize; to brutalize the player with it's high difficulty level. Expect to die many times on you're first play through, however it's difficulty largely remains fair and is mostly devoid of trial and error gameplay. There are (thankfully) unlimited continues and each new screen acts as a checkpoint, but The Deep Cave does keep track of you're death count and will remind you of it each time you die. Speaking of death there are no long death animations or tiresome game over screens to trudge through, when you die you can respawn in a matter of seconds. I would say that the difficulty is a bit higher than VVVVVV, and is somewhere closer to Super Meat Boy.
The Deep Cave shouldn't take too long to beat, but there's no denying that you get bang for buck considering the price of 80 Microsoft points (which is usually equal to one dollar). The gameplay is simplistic and the jumping mechanics feel precise, however there is a bit of a problem with the difficulty curve. There are some screens which spike significantly in difficulty, and I was surprised just how easy the last few screens were. There are also some traps and obstacles that can feel somewhat random, which were usually the parts that I found myself stuck on. The soundtrack is the highlight of The Deep Cave, and has some of the best modern 8-bit songs I've ever heard (made by 'FearOfDark'). The story is very basic and the aesthetics of the cave are grimy (though thankfully not devoid of color), but the soundtrack really gives it an atmosphere of it's own. There's just something beautiful about navigating through the hostile and unforgivable caves.
The Xbox Live Indie channel can be a bit intimidating given how amateurish some of the game's available on it are. But The Deep Cave easily feels like a five or ten dollars game on steam or the Xbox live Arcade. Obviously if you don't like platformers or challenging platformers then by all means steer clear of The Deep Cave. But if you've enjoyed games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, I Wanna Be the Guy, Rayman Origins, N/N+, Mute Crimson etc. then this is a solid recommendation. The Deep Cave is the best one dollar and Xbox Live Indie game that i've ever played.