Developer: Iduna Soft
Publisher: Black Shell Media
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Mustache In Hell – Review
Mustache in Hell, created by Iduna Soft, is a retro-styled game that has a challenging difficulty, intense battles and some challenging puzzles. Testing the skills of every gamer in every way possible. Explore Hell, fulfill the Reaper’s task and be prepared to mow down large hordes of enemies, while making your way through a Zelda-like environment on the adrenaline-boosting tunes.
Story
The story is rather vague and short but it begins when John Mustache awakens in a grim, dark place. In this Limbo-like place, he gets an offer from the Reaper himself, which he simply can’t refuse if he wants to return to the land of the living. Mustache has to find so-called Cubes of Power, to fully restore the Reaper’s powers, which are well-guarded by all kinds of hellish and mythological monsters. Face the darkness of hell and embrace every weapon you’ll find to survive the horrors of hell, in the quest to restore Mustache’s life. More of the ‘story’ isn’t really revealed until the end of the game. Be prepared for some intense shoot-‘em- up meetings, throughout the labyrinths and greatest horrors of hell.
Graphics
Mustache in Hell is designed in a retro pixel-styled art, running on 60 fps and using a lot of darkness seasoned with a grim feeling. Imagine an updated version of the well-known Rogue games with a touch of humor. The cut-scenes are using comic-like graphics and are well-fed with humor, serving the player a small break between the hard battles. Enemies are designed in a way, to make it quite clear which one is the strongest (yellow enemies are the weakest, dark red ones the Strongest and small enemies have less HP than the bigger ones). The variation of enemies is not that big, but the game tries making it up with this color schemes.
Sound
The game uses some old-school soundboards with some spooky elements during the exploration of Hell. During the battles, the old-school sounds are switched with some nice rock tunes and these are pumping up the adrenaline while the player is battling the huge hordes of enemies. So in a way, the music intensifies the gameplay a lot.
Gameplay
Mustache In Hell is a so-called twin stick shooter in which the player needs to find 5 Cubes of Power to fulfill the Reaper’s task, while exploring every corner of Hell. When the game starts you’ll find yourself in a room with 5 stone gates, each leading to another Cube of Power. Mustache In Hell is very linear and doesn’t allow the player to choose which gate/level he wants to finish first. And even though this title is one large labyrinth, it is almost impossible to get lost in it, thanks to the provided tracker that points you to the correct destination at any time. Even the keys you’ll find along to way are pointed to the right gate, at any time.
Every cube is guarded by a (very) hard-to beat boss like Cerberus, providing a great challenge even for well-trained gamers. However, the hardest challenge in the first attempts is mastering the controls, as they aren’t remappable, thus it is advised to plug in a controller.
When a controller is connected, the game gets a lot easier and more fun to play.
As mentioned earlier, the game promptly responds to your commands, but this doesn’t mean you can put your guard down. One move in the wrong direction and you’ll find yourself overwhelmed by the hordes of enemies and you’ll be begging for grenades or trip mines, simply to survive the encounter.
Weapons (SMG, Shotgun, Grenades and Trip Mines) are dropped during each encounter to increase the chance of survival, but are hard to reach mid-action, as they are protected by the large amounts of enemies. After most of the encounters, you’ll be rewarded with a key to open up a gate and to advance even further into the labyrinth, meeting stronger and larger hordes of enemies. (Keep track of your life bar, health pickups (beer and meat) are rare to find)
Too bad the game doesn’t provide any upgrades, beside of the temporary power-ups, it would make the game a lot more accessible for each gamer. Another improvement would be a tutorial. Every player, new to this game will find himself in the middle of his first fight, not really knowing how to survive it properly and losing a big portion of his health leading to large frustration during the first attempts.
Conclusion
Mustache in Hell is a typical indie-game built for gamers who love games like Rogue. As it is combining action, puzzles, challenging encounters and some nice tunes, the game is quit addictive.
As mentioned before, be sure to connect a controller to enjoy the game even more!
The fact that the game is cheap (five EURO/USD), makes it fit in every gamer’s budget. Be warned, even though the game is (very) hard and challenging, it will consume a lot of the player’s time just to prove himself to be worthy to be called a hardcore-gamer.
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