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I loved both of Diabolical Mind's previous efforts, Riddled Corpses EX and Xenon Valkyrie+, ported to the Vita by Cowcat, offered sharp arcade action, a fun sense of progression and great pixelly visuals. So, at first, I was wondering what had gone wrong with DT+...
For reference, the "+" on the title means Cowcat has added a map screen, better balancing, gameplay tweaks and gets the whole thing running smoothly on the Vita. No mean task considering how old our little console is. We do lose the two-player co-op, but that's a fair sacrifice in this blast of twin-stick mayhem.
Back to game which starts with a tale of a king, succumbing to evil to raise an army of demons, and the knight who vanquished him. Over 1,000 years later, a rather less-heroic knight arrives in a small village with a deep, menacing, crack in the ground. Enter that hole and, over the first few levels, there are weak demons to kill, treasure chests to open and gold to harvest, plus a few special items.
Silver keys can free villager prisoners from their cages, gold keys open larger treasure chests, while there are booster artefacts to improve your powers and gold to increase your hero's skills - at the end of each level. There's the usual health, armour, attack range, power and a few others. Then its down to the next level, deeper and deeper with a level boss every third descent.
Where it goes wrong... if you die, everything resets. If you use a rope to climb out, everything resets, there's no save and you can't climb back down again, but you can keep your tokens. So, you're always on your toes, and, during the early plays, it is way too easy to be on half-a-health-heart and out of potions, relying on a miracle chest to top up your health before the next boss battle, and dying in the process.
If you make it back to the surface, you can spend those D-Token coins on new characters, health potions and keys, and more ropes, and improve each character's weaponry, but then you start again at level one, until you open up the further tiers, which get pretty tough, rather quickly.
Yet, once over that rather cruel "feature", you can plan to play Demon's Tier+ properly. To be fair it is no worse than Spelunky's or many of the other roguelites, it just feels poorly advertised in-game or somehow clumsily implemented, but it doesn't stop the overall game from being great fun, or it might not bother you much, just the price of doing business in a monster-filled labyrinth.
You have five minutes per level before a ghostly and highly-fatal overlord appears, and you may as well make use of the time to eek out every bit of gold. Each level has a main mission, usually kill everything, open the chests or take out a specific, and rather obvious, enemy. Do that, get what loot you can and rush for the exit, all while protecting your health by avoiding stupid moves - that usually means slow progress and not running into an open area where you can get swamped.
The deeper you go, the more challenging the levels, and the harsher the bosses. Especially with the fiery backdrops where it can be hard to pick out what's coming. Death is always just a cock-up away, if you can't open the accessories menu quick enough, or touch the exit just as you try to collect that vital heart - there are many ways to die, but they don't feel as fun or significant as previous DMind games.
That said, this is another tightly crafted dose of twitchy, magical, shooter, with lots of maniacal charm. There's the rush when you squeek past a level barely alive, or you feel super-powerful, smiting all before you. A shame the characters don't quite has as much story or flair to them, but hey, with Vita releases few and far between, get this and you'll have plenty of time to master it.
Developer Diabolical Minds/Cowcat
Price: £7.99 (PSN)
Score: 8/10
Progress: Down the 'ole without a paddle
REVIEW CODE PROVIDED, But I brought the physical anyway!
I loved both of Diabolical Mind's previous efforts, Riddled Corpses EX and Xenon Valkyrie+, ported to the Vita by Cowcat, offered sharp arcade action, a fun sense of progression and great pixelly visuals. So, at first, I was wondering what had gone wrong with DT+...
For reference, the "+" on the title means Cowcat has added a map screen, better balancing, gameplay tweaks and gets the whole thing running smoothly on the Vita. No mean task considering how old our little console is. We do lose the two-player co-op, but that's a fair sacrifice in this blast of twin-stick mayhem.
Back to game which starts with a tale of a king, succumbing to evil to raise an army of demons, and the knight who vanquished him. Over 1,000 years later, a rather less-heroic knight arrives in a small village with a deep, menacing, crack in the ground. Enter that hole and, over the first few levels, there are weak demons to kill, treasure chests to open and gold to harvest, plus a few special items.
Silver keys can free villager prisoners from their cages, gold keys open larger treasure chests, while there are booster artefacts to improve your powers and gold to increase your hero's skills - at the end of each level. There's the usual health, armour, attack range, power and a few others. Then its down to the next level, deeper and deeper with a level boss every third descent.
Where it goes wrong... if you die, everything resets. If you use a rope to climb out, everything resets, there's no save and you can't climb back down again, but you can keep your tokens. So, you're always on your toes, and, during the early plays, it is way too easy to be on half-a-health-heart and out of potions, relying on a miracle chest to top up your health before the next boss battle, and dying in the process.
If you make it back to the surface, you can spend those D-Token coins on new characters, health potions and keys, and more ropes, and improve each character's weaponry, but then you start again at level one, until you open up the further tiers, which get pretty tough, rather quickly.
Yet, once over that rather cruel "feature", you can plan to play Demon's Tier+ properly. To be fair it is no worse than Spelunky's or many of the other roguelites, it just feels poorly advertised in-game or somehow clumsily implemented, but it doesn't stop the overall game from being great fun, or it might not bother you much, just the price of doing business in a monster-filled labyrinth.
Giving the Demon Tears
When you do get over that hump, things get more tolerable as you play properly, learning the attack patterns and range of every beast, tower and trap in the game. First, focus on a few token runs to buy a healthy stash of potions and keys, then dive bravely into the later levels with a tanked up character, from the stock knight, weak but powerful mage or one of the others, from an assassin to a berserker, usually trading attack range for health.You have five minutes per level before a ghostly and highly-fatal overlord appears, and you may as well make use of the time to eek out every bit of gold. Each level has a main mission, usually kill everything, open the chests or take out a specific, and rather obvious, enemy. Do that, get what loot you can and rush for the exit, all while protecting your health by avoiding stupid moves - that usually means slow progress and not running into an open area where you can get swamped.
That said, this is another tightly crafted dose of twitchy, magical, shooter, with lots of maniacal charm. There's the rush when you squeek past a level barely alive, or you feel super-powerful, smiting all before you. A shame the characters don't quite has as much story or flair to them, but hey, with Vita releases few and far between, get this and you'll have plenty of time to master it.
Developer Diabolical Minds/Cowcat
Price: £7.99 (PSN)
Score: 8/10
Progress: Down the 'ole without a paddle
REVIEW CODE PROVIDED, But I brought the physical anyway!
Currently playing on my Vita/PS4/PS5
