Underground Hangovers
Platform: Windows
Celebrating a job well-done is usually a good thing to do. Drinking enough to keep you from hearing the company taking off and leaving you on a lone planet, not so good of a thing. Thankfully one of the partiers was able to write up plans for your own rocket, and another one can build it, but they need the special ore you were there to mine in the first place. So back into the dark mines with you to collect enough to make it back home. Underground Hangovers, a free indie Metroidvania-style platform game by Deconstructeam made in just a few days for Ludum Dare, is all about getting that sweet ore. Moving with the [WASD] and the [arrow] keys, you can explore the cave and find more of the special minerals, mined by tapping your down key. But you can only get so far with just your human abilities. Thankfully, you have the dual hook which you place with the [spacebar] and then throw with the same key to where you want to go to make a bridge. Your miner can walk a tightrope like no other and with this ability you'll be sure to find more pockets of Driliv ore to complete your spaceship, or spend on more goodies to help you along your way.
Technically speaking you could win Underground Hangovers without buying any of the other items available to you, but it would take you a long, long, time. The ore regenerates every three minutes so you'll never run out and lose your chance of winning. But the game is much more interesting as you explore the game and try to find a way to reach all the areas, and the other items are just as unique as the dual-hook is. Getting the new items increases the fun and also helps speed up the process of building your ship. For example, the more ore you collect the bigger and heavier your bag gets. This affects your speed and jump distance so even though you may find a jackpot of ore, you have to make sure you can get out of there when all is said and done. To counter this, there is a bigger bag in the shop that also lessens the weight. While you'll still be affected by the weight, it will take longer before you feel it. Using [Q] you can drop ore to make things lighter. Collecting the ore isn't too difficult, but managing the caves are. Odd cave dwelling monkeys will become the bane of your existence as one touch and you've lost everything and are back at the beginning. The other frustrating parts of this game are the glitches, which you may expect since it was made in just one weekend. You're sure to find yourself walking through ground or accidentally flying through walls, and to top this all off, there isn't a save function, so this game has to be played in one sitting. But even with these issues this game is one you'll not want to leave until you're done. As it is Underground Hangovers is still a great adventure to be had.
Windows:
Get the free full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
This has some excellent puzzle elements and some great presentation.
I did encounter a bug with the Powerdrill launching me into and through a wall and getting stuck there. With no save option that was a little frustrating.
Besides that, an excellent game.
One thing that took me a while to figure out: you can start charging the drill and then jump to do a mid-air drill dash.
This is a very good, very frustrating game. I hope that the makers of this game will follow the team that made 'Leaf Me Alone' and expand it after the Ludum Dare challenge is over.
The amount of times dying to glitches caused me to delete this.
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