Hordelicious Preview: Variety is the Spice of Life

I'd be lying if I didn't say that horde mode is getting a bit old, at least in my opinion. You can only play so many wave-based survival games before you perfect strategies and end up getting bored before you get defeated. The wave "survival" genre needed a revamp and some interesting mechanics to breathe some new life into it and restore my interest. Luckily, Hordelicious came along, and brought with it not only interesting mechanics, but a good bit of silliness as well.

Hordelicious is a game that is being created by Marko Silvasvuori, a solo developer who has been working on the project for the past 7 months. In modern game development, that may sound like a short time, but it's quite impressive to see the amount of work that he has managed to complete in such a short time.

At it's most simple level, Hordelicious is a wave-based arena shooter. Battle hordes of enemies as you attempt to survive a botched mission attempt. Originally sent to explore a new planet, you have disturbed the holy ground of the creatures who reside there, and are now being restlessly pursued by these new and strange dangers.

Wave-based shooters are extremely simple games, typically. Hordelicious is no different. The mechanics of the game are quite simple. Enemies will spawn and charge at you, and you must shoot, slash, and apparently toast your way through the hordes of deadly creatures. The entertainment factor is entirely based on the amount of variety in terms of enemies, weapons, and arenas.

In terms of its weapon variety, Hordelicious is pretty solid. Weapons are distributed randomly, meaning that you will come across pick-ups that give you a random weapon when you collect them. I love this mechanic, as you never know what sort of weapon you're going to get. Will you get a rusty assault rifle, the laser gun, or the deadly toaster? You never know, and that's a huge source of fun that Hordelicious manages to provide. In addition to weapons, you can also get access to items which can assist you in your killing efforts. Grenades were my personal favorite, as they allowed you to clear out tons of enemies in a stylish and gory explosion.

Killing enemies in Hordelicious earns you money. The amount you earn varies depending on what type of enemy you kill, with the tougher enemies dishing out more cash upon their death. At the end of each wave, cash can be used to purchase items, upgrades, and other things. Each time the "shop" pops up, you'll have 4 randomly-generated choices which is just another great example of the variety that the game features. It cannot be argued, the absolute best upgrade is the ability to turn enemy blood into candy pieces.

Featuring the ability to fight in different arenas, loot random weapons, and purchase random upgrades, Hordelicious really is a game that is all about variety. It manages to take what could have been a horridly dull concept and turn it into something really entertaining when played in half-hour bursts. The combat is fun, the weapons are interesting, the enemy variety is pretty solid, and the artwork, while simple, possesses a certain charm.

Hordelicious will be releasing onto Steam on July 10th, and will be available for $4.99. Frankly, if you're looking for something simple to play in short bursts, I see no reason not to give this one a look.

Source: IndieGames.com