I've barely scratched the surface yet, but this is brilliant. Brilliantly bonkers.
I think 2D minecraft is quite a misleading description, it plays very differently and requires alot more patience. But once you start progressing its so rewarding.
Sparkly knows more about what you can do so ill wait for him to add his two pence.
I have noticed that the way they do 2/3 player to horizontally split the screen sends off my tellies' 3D signal detector. Will have to turn off the announcement pop up.
Played it to first conclusion way back when on PC so know it pretty well. Like Minecraft though it is a bit of a different beast when lounging on the sofa on the big screen. The controls aren't quite as good and accurate as a mouse but as decent a stab at controller access as you could hope for really. Perfectly playable still.
Tell me about it, my left hand and wrist are fucking killing me. I can't stop playing though so I might have to nab the Xbox version.
The combat is a massive part of the game, with enemies constantly spawning at night or under ground. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but playing in softcore mode means you only lose half of your coins on death but keep your gear so you can still make some progress.
I love the way the different weapons handle, making them more suited to certain situations. The overhead arc of a broad sword comes in handy on the surface to deal with those flying eyeballs. The spears are great in horizontal tunnels as the huge knock back bonus and reach they have mean that nothing gets close to you. I'm currently rocking the grapple hook and boomerang combo, zip lining to the roof of a cave and taking put everything below me like fucking Batman.
Tried a two block wide vertical shaft yesterday with the aim of hitting bedrock. Hasn't happened yet even though when I die I can free fall down the shaft for a minute or so before I get to where I was. Mental.
By giving you both an auto and a fine control option on the pad with a press of the left stick they have tried to make it as usable as possible really. It seems fine in the early stages but it will get a lot more frantic when the bosses come into play. It should hold up. Probably..
Having played it to death on a mouse it still feels like a bit of a bodge and about half the game is inventory management too… I've yet to find a way of making that feel too comparable but it is functional enough; just a bit slow. There may be some tricks that crop up that I've yet to find?
I've yet to get to get me grapple on or go particularly deep and went straight in with a 'large' world so it'll be deep and long to find the various areas. Need to get me some grapples and then head off to a jungle to make the mega grapple… ah the old memory comes seeping back. Can feel the hooks sinking in again… nnnnnnggg
The inventory stuff is shite on the PC too, you should be able to craft with the shit that's in your chests instead of having to grab the stuff you need first. The chests are in the same room as the crafting table for fuck's sake.
Got a spare PC code if anyone is interested? It was promised to either Dan or Revel but Revel bought his own and Dan is being a huge fanny about it so he might lose out.
How's this handle on a gamepad then? Love the game but hate WASD.
You can get gamepad to WASD programs. I use Xpadder as it's 360 controller specific (although does support others like the Logitech), but there's other programs like JoytoKey. To get the 360 controller running on PC you need either a wired pad or the wireless dongle. For PS3 I believe it's just a case of your lappy having a bluetooth card or buying a cheap dongle.
I've barely got anywhere. Played for hours but haven't really moved far beyond the starting area and didn't even know the game had bosses or anything like that!
I went in blind, only picking it up because it was £1.49 in the recent indie sale on Steam, so I'm literally learning it as I go. Everything is new to me at this point.
What's the purple stuff all about? I cant mine the blocks and the enemies in there are utterly disgusting and relentless so I can't do much exploration down there.
Having loved my, albeit, brief foray into Minecraft would I like this?
Also if I am going to spend some time playing this why should it win over Minecraft? I loved my mining, build a glass hut over my shaft and mine away day or night!!!
It's very different to Minecraft, it's less about building stuff and more about spelunking. There are way more nasties about, so you're always on edge. I suppose there's nowt stoping you from building mega structures, but I'm far too busy discovering new things to worry about that just yet.
It's a far more goal orientated game than Minecraft ultimately. There should always be a thing/resource/beastie you're trying to farm/hunt and very soon these require fairly specific items/tools/weapons to acquire.
Quite simple item tree stuff really but drip fed in a particularly appealing way. Easy worth a 1200 punt if you're xbox thinking. It's worth knowing that it is a bastard hard and long game though. You can easily drop in and out admittedly but it's a long haul to get much anywhere..
As an aside we managed to takedown the Eye of Cthulu after it popped up as a surprise. Taking down the first boss with a pair of useless (6 & 4yr old..) punters was a fun ol' challenge.
If set to normal the cash is all you ever get punished. To help out though you'll be wanting to save up for a piggy bank to save all your precious things in. Been very handy for me as the piggy bank is player specific too so you can control access to stuff before kids spunk through everything.
They also have universal access so when you setup a base nearer a threat you can plonk down a piggy bank and get hold of all your bits an bobs.
So many things to know in this little devil... Off to go farm some Jungle essentials. Death by Bees an absolute certainty.. Better put my cash in the bank before then.
I summoned the Eye of Chtulu when Sparkly wasn't ready. Much hilarity ensued, all that was missing was the benny hill music. Luckily he fucked off when morning came.
We managed to survive the blood moon. Spears are well handy. I forgot to see what my new pet slime is like, must remember later.
Game is fucking awesome. I've got Bioshock Infinite sat there barely touched because of it.
I made it back with all my shit and a good few gold coins last night. It took me ages, next time I'm taking that mirror thing. Fought a fucking Vampire Miner, wearing a miners hat with a torch on, which unfortunately he didn't drop for me. Guess I'll have to buy one from the merchant, it's the only other thing he sells that looks useful. The piggy bank will come in handy as I suspect Frantic of having sticky fingers.