Game: 1001 Spikes
Platform: Xbox One (also available on PS4, Vita, PS3, Wii U, Steam)
Did I pay for it: No.
Price: 14.99
Like a
stern high school teacher looking over your shoulder during a test and
coughing in your ear when your answer to the essay question is only two
sentences long, 1001 Spikes guilts you into bettering yourself. You
cannot come lightly to it, else perish on a forgotten trap or die
jumping directly into an arrow you really should have known was coming.
Taking
a retro 2D platforming art style, offering same-screen multiplayer, and
hundreds of levels, 1001 Spikes will conjur up ghosts of the first
Spelunky, but outside of the visual style and genre and requiring keys
to progress to the next level, the games aren't that much alike. Yes,
there are traps and spikes and enemies, but Spelunky encouraged speedy
and skillful play and 1001 Spikes demands focus and patience. It's the
difference between The Fast & The Furious, and Drive - both movies
features cars and violence, but they could not be more different.
Additionally 1001 Spikes is a bit more streamlined. You have a jump
button, and attack button, and that's it - whereas Spelunky involved
item shops and all sorts of goodies and nicknacks to aid you on your
journey.
Though
by the end of 1001 Spikes fifth level you may be secretly rooting
around the level for some cyanide to end your suffering. When people say
Golf is a bad way to ruin a good walk, they're essentially saying the
intense challenge and frustration of Golf results in a stressful, but
ideally rewarding experience. 1001 Spikes is the same way.
Namely
because 1001 Spikes does a wonderful job of setting the rules. You know
what a given level is going to entail, you just need to be prepared and
maintain focus long enough to succeed - It's like taking that
aforementioned test, if you're prepared, it's not nearly as scary as it
seems. There are few 'gotchyha!' moments, and despite using 200 of the
1001 lives you're given at the start of the game, I never felt cheated
or unfairly punished. Instead I turned the rage inward, blaming myself
because I either took a shortcut I shouldn't have, or miss-timed a jump I
made a dozen times before out of frustration with my own skill.
1001
Spikes is from Nicalis, the creators
of the excellent Cave Story, and they share similarities in their zen
like nature. They require peace of mind. With
distractions, slamming doors, people talking in your ear, or worries
about what tomorrow will bring, 1001 Spikes will eat your lunch all day
long. But in a meditative state of concentration, the progress you make
is as rewarding as it is enthralling - it's acing a test you studied
for. It's getting a birdie on a par 4 hole. It's asking the cute
girl from the movie theater out on a date while maintaining eye contact
and not stumbling over your words. You find yourself surprised by what
you're capable of.
Which
is to say that in its best moments, 1001 Spikes helps you transcend
your
own perceived limitations. There will be frustration and seemingly
impossible challenges, and you will fail way more often than you
succeed. But because the failure is your own fault, victory is your own
doing too, and all the more sweet because of it. To paraphrase Taylor
Mali, 1001 Spikes makes you work harder than you ever could, coughing in
your ear that you better not dare waste its time with anything less than your very best.
Rating:
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