In what must be an attempt to sell no games, the game series originally known as 'Holy Invasion Of Privacy Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?' gets a new outing. This one is 'No Heroes Allowed' and it evens jokes about the name change in-game, so at least they're getting a laugh out of it while their sales totals equal just 1 (me).
I don't even read the PSN emails but before I hit 'delete' I spotted what looked like Badman and, sure enough, it was. And it's pretty cheap too (unlike the European launch price of the original) so had to go for it.
For those who don't know what the game is, it's not easy to explain because, even having played through two previous games, I still haven't quite got the hang of it. Basically you've got a pickaxe and you dig a dungeon. The nutrients you dig will lead to monsters being born and an ecosystem evolves. Then heroes invade and you have to try to survive. You have no direct control over your creatures - you just dig and they go about their business. So the patterns you create will determine what happens.
If you understand it. Which I sort of do but still can't see while playing, if that makes any sense.
This third game is not all that different to the second game, which was not all that different to the first. The creatures look the same. Environments look the same. Most of the heroes look the same. It all plays the same. The humour is present and correct. The evolutions from the 2nd game are back again.
The main new feature here is water. You can dig spaces that spring water out and submerge parts of your dungeon. In that water, plants grow and new creatures grow. Does it make a difference? Aside from just one more thing to keep track of, I'd say no. Another new thing is that your pickaxe upgrades. All that changes is the power that you use when you hold R. And, even then, I'm more taking it for granted that there is a change because that's what the game has told me - can't say I've noticed any difference.
That's really it. The game teases by presenting you with towers, as if you're going to be working upwards. Not so, unless something changes dramatically at the end of the game (possible). You just beat the stage under the tower (that's exactly the same as the stages in 1 and 2) and the tower is yours.
So there is very little to recommend it over 1 and 2. To be honest, I don't feel either sequel has justified its existence over the original.
And yet I have it. And, like the first two, I find myself baffled by it, frustrated by it, and pretty much unable to stop playing it.
Lastly, there is some sort of memory load feature for game data from the first two games. There was one in the previous game and I couldn't get it to work. Can't get it to work in this one either.
Edit: Oh, a couple more things. There is a daily dungeon section, which gives you a set of challenges daily. There is also seemingly a multiplayer mode - I have no idea how it works but that might interest some.
I don't even read the PSN emails but before I hit 'delete' I spotted what looked like Badman and, sure enough, it was. And it's pretty cheap too (unlike the European launch price of the original) so had to go for it.
For those who don't know what the game is, it's not easy to explain because, even having played through two previous games, I still haven't quite got the hang of it. Basically you've got a pickaxe and you dig a dungeon. The nutrients you dig will lead to monsters being born and an ecosystem evolves. Then heroes invade and you have to try to survive. You have no direct control over your creatures - you just dig and they go about their business. So the patterns you create will determine what happens.
If you understand it. Which I sort of do but still can't see while playing, if that makes any sense.
This third game is not all that different to the second game, which was not all that different to the first. The creatures look the same. Environments look the same. Most of the heroes look the same. It all plays the same. The humour is present and correct. The evolutions from the 2nd game are back again.
The main new feature here is water. You can dig spaces that spring water out and submerge parts of your dungeon. In that water, plants grow and new creatures grow. Does it make a difference? Aside from just one more thing to keep track of, I'd say no. Another new thing is that your pickaxe upgrades. All that changes is the power that you use when you hold R. And, even then, I'm more taking it for granted that there is a change because that's what the game has told me - can't say I've noticed any difference.
That's really it. The game teases by presenting you with towers, as if you're going to be working upwards. Not so, unless something changes dramatically at the end of the game (possible). You just beat the stage under the tower (that's exactly the same as the stages in 1 and 2) and the tower is yours.
So there is very little to recommend it over 1 and 2. To be honest, I don't feel either sequel has justified its existence over the original.
And yet I have it. And, like the first two, I find myself baffled by it, frustrated by it, and pretty much unable to stop playing it.
Lastly, there is some sort of memory load feature for game data from the first two games. There was one in the previous game and I couldn't get it to work. Can't get it to work in this one either.
Edit: Oh, a couple more things. There is a daily dungeon section, which gives you a set of challenges daily. There is also seemingly a multiplayer mode - I have no idea how it works but that might interest some.