Super Crate Box Review
It’s hard to believe that Super Crate Box came out on Macs and PCs as recently as 2010. It feels like I’ve been playing it forever. That’s not because I’m any good at it, mind. It’s more likely because I’m intimately aware of all the ways I’m not any good at it. I know I lurk too much on the safer mid-level platforms of the Moon Temple stage and then get overwhelmed, for example. I know I’m scared of weapons like the disc gun and the laser rifle, so I’ve never really mastered their quirks. I know I flip out completely whenever the little floating skull guys turn up and that I often fall in the flaming pit at the bottom of the screen entirely by accident. There’s another reason it’s hard to believe Vlambeer’s fast-paced blaster is only two years old, though, and that’s because Super Crate Box, while oozing with indie credibility, feels like a classic arcade game from the Eugene Jarvis era. It’s got a great line in tight, replayable maps, it’s got dribbling horrors to populate them with, and it’s got some adorable, savagely differentiated weaponry to keep you alive. Like Robotron or Defender, Super Crate Box is a brisk tutorial in how less really can be more when it comes to design. You could list its handful of ideas on the back of a rail ticket, and yet they provide enough structure to build a game that you can then pretty much play until the end of time. Read more…
You May Also Want To Read:
