Volchaos is an ultra-challenging old school platformer. As a nameless explorer, you must navigate through dangerous volcanoes in search of precious gems you can use to pay off your mortgage, bad investments, and alimony. To further complicate matters, the lava is continuously rising and an array of enemies stands in your path. Will you become rich? Heck, you will be lucky to survive.
What can be said about the Indie game Volchaos? Fun Infused Games really did well with what they wanted in this game. Very slap stick type of comedy which I love and it’s like an old school 8-bit Nintendo game. It even has you jumping and hitting a flag at the end of each level. If you love old school games like I do then this game will be a breath of old fresh air. The opening of the game has a warning screen that states that “you should not try any of the stunts you see in this game at home. The stunts are preformed by fictional characters under the supervision of other professional fictional characters.†With an opening like that I got drug in real deep. I wanted to see what the game had in store so…let’s begin.
The first thing that you notices right off the bat when you hit the main menu is the fact that on the screen you have something similar to achievements called “awardmentsâ€. A very subtle touch but if you read them the way you get them is funny. Some are as simple as complete a level without dying or complete a level in under 7 seconds. Now you might be asking yourself: 7 seconds? What? I know I did. When you start the game each level really is about 7 second long. It’s pretty much get from one side of the map to the other dying as little as possible. Each level of course has it’s own dangers. Like lava or a spike pit. Some of the levels have lava that starts to rise up and it make the game a lot more chaotic. Hence the name Volchaos.
Now most of the level are pretty much the same lay out. I mean with each level being about 7 second long you really can’t expect too much from the game, but with God knows how many levels to go through it seems like they get harder and harder while staying the same look. I mean the differences are very apparent with like collapsible rocks that break after 1 second of contact and some of the jumps being damn near impossible this game has enough to keep you playing just so you can say: I beat that. With enemies like bats of some kind and cracked out fire balls that hop around the game makes you want to throw your controller against the wall. With the lava rising in some levels you almost can’t plot out a strategy making it pure chaos. Hence once again the name of the game.
The nameless character you play is like a cross between Indian Jones and Crocodile Dundee whom is having some personal issues with his wife so he decides to go looking for adventure…in a volcano. You collect gems through out each level. Now it’s not a requirement to get them but hey it’s there so why not do it. Now each time you die (and you will) you start from the begging of whatever level you are on but the time keeps going. Now the game almost makes you take pride in how many times you fail. It counts how many times you die and by what whether it be spikes, lava, or the fireballs even awarding you an awardment for dying 20 times on one level (I got that one).
Now the game offers no multiplayer or leader boards so you really can’t compete with your friends. Unless they come over and you start a “Who’s better game†(I have and was bested). The game is very, very funny and offers expert levels if you get all the gems on the level and it state that you get a better ending with each expert level. I have tried to get all the gems but end up dying because I become greedy. Now with what the game offer which is a great sense of humor and an old school look and difficulty as well this game is really worth a look at. I mean I was entertained at watching the ways that I would fail. It’s really hard to find a game that not only wants you to fail but actually rewards you to fail. I wish more games had the “Fail is good†Philosophy. Well in closing this game isn’t like one of those super mega awesome disk based game but for what you pay for it is really one hell of a good and fun although very frustrating game that makes you come back for more and makes you want to prove yourself by beating it.
