[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/rise-from-purgatory/id974913709″]
Introduction
We all remember the good old days of the retro consoles—where we spend hours upon hours to complete a game because there wasn’t a way to save in some games back then. Interestingly, games back then were much more difficult in general, and even though this period also has its hard games it sometimes takes a search or two to find a really challenging app.
If you’re looking for something that makes you scream out of frustration, we might just have something great in store for you. Today we’re reviewing Rise from Purgatory, a platforming game for iPhone and iPad by Marc Polett.
Difficulty: Niche Or Style
While most seasoned gamers will definitely like a challenge in their games, there are also those games that have just the difficulty as their selling point. It sometimes becomes kind of a niché for these games that way and while it isn’t always bad, I did find Rise from Purgatory falling into this category.
Upon playing the first level a few things become clear—while it’s obviously a platformer the graphics aren’t all too impressive, changing only slightly throughout the levels you play and just being extremely low-quality all together. What you also notice is that the sound, however, is done good and that it racks up the quality of the game by a sheer amount.
In Rise from Purgatory you control a fancy dressed guy through levels, having buttons laid out on your screen for jumping, moving and shooting bullets left and right. The funny thing is that the movement buttons are actually on the right side, which is quite the opposite of where they normally are. You also have the option to dodge obstacles by pressing the down key (which on screen, quite frankly, looks hilarious as if you’re pulling a very extreme dance move).
Rise From Purgatory: The Real Deal
Like I mentioned before, Rise from Purgatory is an extremely difficult game. There are sudden and often times hidden obstacles that come flying at you, only to impale you and end you in a rather gory manner. Other times there are guards that want to catch you, and while you may manage to get away they will try to shoot you down anyway.
It becomes clear very early on that difficulty is this game’s selling point and while it’s almost always fun to have a great challenge, it doesn’t quite add up when it’s not executed correctly or fairly. Obstacles have way too big collision boxes and the game tries to punish you way too much in silly ways.
Our conclusion
While I did have my fun with Rise from Purgatory, it took all my might not to get distracted by the off-putting graphics and the extremely lackluster level design. The thrills are sometimes cheap, while other parts of some levels are done very entertaingly. Now of course, I would still recommend the game as difficult games are almost always worth a shot. The sad thing is, however, that Rise from Purgatory charges you a dollar for buying it which in my case is completely nuts.
The game could have gone instead with running more ads in game and leaving the game for free so more players can check it out. In the end, Rise from Purgatory didn’t have anything in it that could change my mind for the better.
Rise from Purgatory requires iOS 6.0 and is compatible with iPhone and iPad