Spelunker Party!

This challenging platformer is entertaining, but its difficulty is only lightened if you have a lot of friends to help you out; otherwise, its repetition could drive you away. Video games can go through a number of evolutions over the course of their lifetime. In turning the free-to-play PS4 game Spelunker World into the retail re-release Spelunker Party!, changes were inevitable. Spelunker Party! drops the microtransactions in favor of a more self-contained package. It also loses the randomized loot drops and special online events of the original with more deliberate character progression. And even though the game drops from six-player online support to four, it also adds support for couch play via local co-op. Ultimately, it's a give and take deal that manages to maintain a balance that keeps the new version from being much better or worse than the previous game. So, with all other things being relatively equal, the only question left is whether or not Spelunker Party! is fun to play.

There's nothing particularly bad about Spelunker Party!, but there's nothing particularly great about it either. The game's colorful and cartoonish presentation make it look like it's aimed more at younger players, but the punishing difficulty makes it an almost hard-core platform experience that can challenge even veteran gamers. And even with over 100 stages to explore, there's still a certain level of repetition. On the upside, the addition of local co-op play is a lot of fun. The game is much more manageable with friends, and working together can end up being a lot of fun. But when flying solo, or even online where you don't have that couch camaraderie going on, Spelunker Party! is one party you won't necessarily be itching to crash.