Forum Overview :: Cryptark :: It's worth $5

[quote name="fabio"]It feels like Galak-Z meets the interior levels of Air Fortress. You're an armed suit entering an alien space hulk with the ultimate goal of destroying the AI core which will disable the ship and clear the way for salvage teams. The trick is that there are numerous systems (each acting like a mini-boss) throughout the ship that boost the defenses in various ways: shields that make the core invulnerable, repair systems that will gradually fix any other systems you destroy, systems that pump out more enemies, systems that control turrets & mines, systems that shuffle system locations, systems that put a massive self destruct on systems, etc. You get a map of each level ahead of time (most of the time) and can plan your entry point through multiple doors. At any time you can exit the hulk and zip around the outside to another entrance, and bringing up the map pauses the game for study in trying to take down the increasingly complex and overlapping systems before you make a run at the core. + Art design The basic green on black background combined with the creepy biomechanical enemy designs (H.R. Giger robots) make this game the visual version of Duskers. Explosions and debris effects are pretty. - Art design They completely throw out all horror potential by STUPIDLY sticking in wacky crewmates straight out of <i>Titan A.E.</i> with awful comedic quips. The explosions and debris are often too detailed because it gets very hard to tell what's a harmless bit of debris and what's an enemy or damaging hazard. + Roguelike progression You can customize difficulty for each hulk, in a way. You have to buy your equipment each mission so the more you go in with, the less profit you'll make. Full weapon loadout of the best stuff and max repair kits? You'll barely make anytime. Minimum lifebar and single crappy energy weapon with max ammo? Double the profit or more. Each mission also has 3-4 side objectives (use no shields, destroy all X systems, leave all X systems intact, etc) that give you extra money. Make more money the faster you beat a level. Lots of ways you can squeeze out more money. Money is also your extra life count as it costs $100k to come back every time you die. Every run keeps going until the money runs out or you beat the final hulk (the Cryptark). Balance out being extra careful bringing extra repair kits ($10k each) and risking death ($100k), or go to an emergency repair station mid level ($55k). - Roguelike progression Maybe I just suck and haven't figured out a good strategy, but halfway through a campaign run it starts feeling impossible to punch through enemies unless you fully load out your weapon slots to the point where you're not making any money. - Enemies This is where the game starts losing me. The projectile enemies are fine. However there are far too many "swarm" and "charge" enemies that feel frustrating and unfair within the game engine. Some enemies are tiny swarms that don't show up on radar and are often lost in the flying debris of battle. Some enemies charge VERY fast at you from beyond visual range with no warning. Some VERY annoying enemies zip right up to you and blow you around like the clouds in the final level of Battletoads. Often you can't kill them before they send you flying out of control all over the place and often it's into a section jam packed with buzzsaw hazard like it was Super Meat Boy. I feel like the game would have been very satisfying if it was 80% projectile enemies and 20% other, but instated it's the other way around and is the main reason I'm lukewarm on the game. Definitely try it for the $5 sale right now. I love the art (if they could just patch out the crewmembers) and the risk/reward design, but enemy mechanics are massively trying my patience.[/quote]