The Binding of Isaac: basement edition

About the Publisher

I recently got this game on the steam sales for four dollars this game is another game in the series of games being released by newgrounds which is an online flash hosting site and they have published several HD versions of their better flash games first was Alien Homid which was a side scrolling shooter like metal slug. Next was a game called castle crashers which is a four player side scrolling beat'em up like battletoads or double dragon except it has great RPG element that round out the experience. Then they released Super Meat boy which is a intense platformer with Mario influence this is the hardest platformer and a very well made game finally they have released Binding of Isaac which is rouge; Zelda 1 dungeon  type of game.

Gameplay

Binding of Isaac is a high replayability game with a twisted storyline with the gameplay telling the entire story which is a staple of how well a game can do this it has a random generator for everything in this game which is the main reason for the replayability. There is four RPG elements range, damage, attack speed , movement speed and health there are also numerous number of items that upgrade these elements or give your character a special attack there are too many of these but I can divide into a few groups. First group is bullet manipulators that change your "tears"(I will explain this soon) to different types of attacks usually that enhance your damage, next is food which upgrades your max health there are also items that reduce your max health. Most of the items though manipulate your RPG elements either positively or negatively they also change your cosmetic appearance then there are the items that give you a special power either active ability or passive abilities. Lastly their are pills or tarot cards which do any number of things both good and bad and they change each time you restart the game so do not rely on remembering what stuff does what. In Binding of Isaac there are also bombs and keys so that you can open chests and doors or advance through the area but not essential to win the level. In each level their are 5 different areas plan area with monsters to defeat before you can progress, secret area which gives you a random stuff, game area which has mini games in it either defeat monsters or gambling, 7 deadly sins boss area (just a mini boss), gold item room it is a safe room but contains a power up item in the centre lastly boss room which contains the boss you must defeat to progress to next level these are all randomly generated the difficulty of them depends on what level you are on.

Story

 Now to explain how this game's gameplay tells a story as you play first is the how you defeat enemies by crying at them shows that the protagonist is in a unfriendly situation the mini bosses seven deadly sins show that he is destroying his own emotions next is the item that improve him usually cause bodily harm or make him look even more depraved for example his mother's lipstick he places it on his lips and it makes him shoot faster meaning he is crying even more than before and the food that he eats is usually dog food with caption of dinner under it. Each of these things reflect that this child's horrible living standards with as much as a cut scene next is between each level their is a tiny cut scene used to hide loading time but in each ones they show someone either neglecting him or teasing/bullying him now the last peg in the great design of this game is at the end of the intro cut scene you see a naked boy pin a peace of paper to the wall and smile which shows that none of this game is real it is an escape from his even worse life. For such a small game to have such clearly coded stuff is fantastic and I would love triple A games to do the same in their games I know that this is a lot harder to do because they do not have a single man mindset for the entire game.

Summary

I do recommend you get The Binding of Isaac it is fun and addicting game that is both hard and fulfilling a much better game than I expected I have told myself that newgrounds may be a bad site but the polished diamonds from it are great as every full port flash game to product game from them have been fantastic. I have been playing Heroes 6 a lot this will be the next game triple A game I review and if you can help it do not buy Dungeon and Dragons: Daggerdale it is the worst made game ever but u want to review it because it is so bad and it shows how not to make a game and allows me to vent untill next time enjoy this Slice of Kris.