Volchaos (XBLIG): "A Punishing Retro Platformer With Humor"

About a week ago 'Fun Infused Games', the developers behind 'Volchaos' requested that I do a review of their game, and as usual I gladly accepted. I'm not really into punishing games that test your patience, but 'Volchaos' didn't seem as extreme as some other games I have previously played ('Platformance: Temple Death' comes to mind ...).  After dealing with family issues for a while I finally got the chance to do my playthrough of the game. It was definitely a unique experience, and I continued to play even though I died numerous times throughout my playthrough. If you're a hasty player then you'll likely suffer the same redundant deaths as I did. I found that I'm a rather impatient player myself, and I definitely payed the price for being so in this game.

Volchaos is a game about a guy who is truly down on his luck. He has lost his wife, and his wealth in search for riches (gems). After hitting rock bottom the guy (who looks like Chuck Norris) heads to a Volcano to gather gems, and right the wrongs in his life. Volchaos is an unforgiving 42 level platformer that chronicles this poor fellow's attempt/s at redemption. You (the gamer) take on the role of this unfortunate soul as he braves the many volcanic levels in the game. Within each given level you will face many dangers including constantly rising lava, spikes, fire bats, and other menacing obstacles/enemies that are there to keep you from your goal. It's definitely not an easy quest to undertake, and you'll likely find impending doom on a frequent basis.

Gameplay in 'Volchaos' is fairly straightforward. The only controls you will use are (A) for jumping, and the (Left Thumbstick/D.Pad) for movement. Even though the button layout is simple, jumping in the game varies by how hard you press/don't press the (A) button. The harder/longer you press the (A) button the higher the main character will jump. If you quickly tap the (A) button then the lower the main character will jump. The basic goal for each level in the game is to collect a set number of gems before the lava reaches you, and make it to a finish flag at the end. Each level keeps track of the time it took you to complete it, how many times you died, and how many of the gems you have collected. There are some variations to certain levels that feature new enemy types (flames, fire bats ...) and different ways in which a level must be completed (keys, backtracking ...). When, and if you reach level 42 you will face a final boss as a conclusion to the game. There are a total of 15 awardments that can be gained during the game for achieving certain goals (dying a certain way, dying a certain amount of times ...). Some of the awardments are hilarious like "Glutton For Punishment" (which I can relate to), or "Bat Out Of Hell". Aside from the standard levels, 'expert' levels can also be played after you collect all of the gems for a given level. There are 'expert' levels available for each standard level in the game. The expert levels are more difficult to complete, and feature sped up lava flow.

Volchaos was created with a retro appearance that pays homage to the video games of old. The color scheme is vivid. During my playthrough of the game I noticed some similarities to classic video game characters such as a spiked tribal face that was similar to the 'Thwomp' from 'Super Mario Bros. 3'. The soundtrack for each level in the game had a nice beat to it, but it did seem to repeat for each level. The game features humorous visual intermission messages featuring the game's main character, and level enemies with typed dialogue. I got a good laugh from some of them. I also noticed that the game's initial loading screen was a warning stating that the characters in the game were fictional, and that the stunts shouldn't be performed at home. It's details like these that made this game one-of-a-kind.

In the end I thought the game was well made. While I'm usually not a gamer who's glutton for punishment, I still managed to enjoy the game some. Volchaos offers a solid experience, and sticks to the humorous/light-hearted theme that the developer had chosen to go for. It's the perfect mixture of nerve racking gameplay, and comic relief. The vivid retro styled animations will no doubt remind gamers of video games from their earlier gaming days (NES, SNES ...). If you can get past the fact that you are going to die ... many times, then you'll probably enjoy this game. A friend of mine (@CherryRasulka) actually brought this game to my attention before the developer (Fun Infused Games) had contacted me for the review. She also thought it was a good game, and enjoyed it. She volunteered to do a review of her own which I will post for her here if she decides to follow through. If you have 80 msp to spare, and don't mind a punishing game then I'd definitely suggest getting 'Volchaos'.