Spelunky

Simply put - you're a miner, trying to survive as deep as possible.  If you make it past 4 levels meeting certain criteria (having X number of bombs for example), "Tunnel Man" opens up a direct access portal from the top.  It's 2 - 10 minutes of Mario meets Indiana Jones, a spiritual successor to the old Apple II game Aztec to date myself.


Levels are randomly generated, but every 4 levels is themed.  I've survived the mines and the jungle so far - I am working on the ice caves now, and have made it to some sort of temple at the end - but I haven't completed Tunnel Man's quest.

While the controls are similar to Mario, the randomness sends it off the rails.  I have to battle with my inner demon who wants to speed jump every pit and take risks, it's a fast paced game but you have to play carefully.  There are impassable death traps you have to go bomb through, there is tempting treasure and maidens to rescue and you will have to decide if it's first possible but then worth it.

Two things this game did perfect -
1. No long reset:  You die, no big long cut scene of the arch enemy gloating, click a quick restart button - back in the action.  It makes it hard to stop ...

2. Level "Specials": With each level generated at random, sometimes they seed more creative things - as an example, occasionally I would get a "The dead are restless!" message upon entering a level.  It would be undead themed with extra exits, hidden doorways to castles, etc.  I get the sense that I will never "see it all".

I will probably keep playing this game for a while.