Cerberus: Lord of the Underworld is a top scrolling shooter, set in Hell. You control Cerberus, the the famous 3-headed dog, and apparently he shoots badass fireballs.
I really like the way this game is set up. As you go through the game, you literally grow with power, and as you grow, you have more hitpoints and you shoot more fireballs. In the beginning, you have to grab powerups to increase your size, but upgrades help you start larger and larger.
Death by fireball has got to be the leading cause of death in the Underworld
The balance of the upgrades was fantastic. Early on there are cheap, effective upgrades and increase the amount of currency (souls) you get from kills. This means that every upgrade down the tree gets exponentially more expensive, but the system worked. Each playthrough, I drastically increased my haul every time. And each time, I was able to upgrade my health, my firepower, and how much currency I get. It worked very well, and it kept the game very fresh. At no point did I feel like I was grinding. There were very few occasions where I didn't increase my personal best.
The max size indicator was a nice touch, but it makes me think that Cerberus is overcompensating for something.
There were also achievements that had the in-game effect of increasing the amount of souls you get. It was a nice touch, but I didn't find myself seeking out achievements. I think that system would work better if it was highlighted early in the game and if the achievements were things that you wouldn't go about doing in the normal course of a game. Having some that required specific player action would make the rewards that much sweeter and it would increase replayability.
Achievement soul multiplier: GIGANTIC INFLATION
I do have a few complaints around endgame. As I said, the souls I received after each playthrough drastically increased. And the only upgrades that didn't have a cap were concerned with the amount of souls rewarded for certain monster deaths. That meant that the final millions of souls I was getting were completely worthless. I would have liked some sort of unlimited power upgrade, or something to make the souls meaningful.
Either that, or have an option to turn them off. I ran into some trouble late in the game when the souls on the screen obscured the bullets flying at me, which meant that the souls were actually hampering my progress. I would definitely appreciate a way to turn them off, because I was fully upgraded and all they were doing was making it hard to see and increasing the lag.
All in all, it's a fantastic game, and even my final complaints didn't really detract from the experience. I still beat the game once I got all the upgrades, and I still had a great time doing it. Will I ever go back and play it again? Probably not. But I'm very curious to see what Kassoon puts out next.
Damn right I am...
Scorecard:
Category
|
Score
|
Time Value
|
10
|
Money Value
|
10
|
Originality
|
8
|
Ryplayability
|
8
|
Fulfillment
|
10
|
Final Score
|
9.2
|
Let me know what you think of Cerberus: Lord of the Underworld!
Until next time,
Ryan
Pictures courtesy of ArmorGames
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