Spelunky Xbox 360
User Score
7.2 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 89 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 89
  3. Negative: 16 out of 89

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  1. brad2534
    Jul 4, 2012
    10
    This is the type of game that will get bad reviews because people don't have the patience to really get what it's all about. Also, if you don't enjoy hard games, you will hate this game. This game is so rewarding because it takes so much planning, concentration and even luck to get through to the end. The controls are great, the items useful and fun, and it has great variety based on the endless iterations of the various levels. If you're up for a challenge and understand that it's going to take you hours to master the gameplay, you're going to love Spelunky, which is undoubtedly the most well-designed and executed game of the year so far.… Expand
  2. The_Shed
    Jul 5, 2012
    10
    You have to know what you're in for with this game to enjoy it. If you do, it's a masterpiece, one of the best examples of a small-but-oh-so-fun arcadey experience which is infinitely replayable and deep. Other reviewers obviously don't know what they're in for. A couple of hints: i) after the tutorial, every level is randomly generated EVERY TIME you play it. You can't learn the levels like other games: you have to be actually good at PLAYING it, it requires skill and practice to get better and learn how to deal with issues. ii) It's goddamn unforgiving. Hand in hand with point i), this game will take you apart repeatedly until you learn to do things like: avoid running under spiders, drop things in front of arrow traps, save ropes and bombs more than money, GET THE CLIMBING GLOVES AS FAST AS YOU CAN, stay the damn hell out of a yeti's armreach... And so on. It's wonderfully deep and infinitely new and fresh. GET IT AND ENJOY IT, FOLKS. (The only issues I've noted are very, very rare bugs and... That's it. It's great stuff, and I haven't even tried 4-player splitscreen co-op, which sounds incredible).… Expand
  3. Sauron
    Jul 5, 2012
    9
    I've played this game for a few hours now, which is not nearly enough to do an in-depth review, but these are my first thoughts. The game is a lot of fun. You really have to learn to be careful or you will die by carelessness. You will die, die again, and then die some more, but with each death you learn a little more about the game, and how to survive. As for the controls, they're very responsive, and I've yet to die because of them. And the graphics are really great as well. It's a crisp HD look that suits the game. So all in all, it looks like a fun game that will take a long time to master. But oddly, I think that's ok.… Expand
  4. Hathor
    Jul 7, 2012
    10
    People who don't like this game is because they think it's too difficult to them... it's a platform game, like the ones we saw in NES and SNES. Like said before, if you don't like "hard" games you will hate this one, but if you a real gamer, you will like it, or at least apreciate the work in it, if you don't play it to the end. Like FEZ and other retro games, it frustrate the players who like a "modern" and easy game. This game is a masterpiece of retro games, so if you like the style, buy it.… Expand
  5. BorisMagee4444
    Sep 29, 2012
    9
    I have put countless hours into this game since release. Each time I play I learn something new, and there is an incredible amount of depth and nuance to the gameplay. While there are some systematic problems with the game (such as the randomized nature resulting in the very occasional cheap death), I have fallen in love with Spelunky. If you are a patient gamer who loves to get personal with every facet of a game (and recieve great rewards for doing so), pick this game up. I did on release day, and haven't stopped playing since.… Collapse
  6. admanwhitmer
    Jul 11, 2012
    10
    risk, reward. these words describe many of the situations that you will encounter in this game. i only have one heart, should i leave safely, or risk trying to save the damsel... or should i try to rob the shopkeeper even though there is a good chance i will die. these situtations occur frequently and they will decide whether you venture far into the journey or be locked in the caves. this game also takes patience... lots of it... also it takes a good amount of skill. sometimes it may take hours of trying to accomplish your goal but that makes the moment of victory all the sweeter. spelunky is not for the feint of heart but if you are determined and patient this game can be a real gem, i highly recommend playing, it truly is another indie victory with the likes of super meat boy and limbo… Expand
  7. damienelp
    Jul 20, 2012
    10
    I wasn't expecting a lot from this game when I first heard about it. Sure I love retro-gaming and this one looks like a refurbished game from the eigthies (which it actually is). First time I tried it, looks particularly hard, because I kept dying over and over again. Sometimes I could die in less that 15 seconds. Could be frustrating to some, but for me it was challenging. As in Super meat boy you have to retry many times before getting the hang of it, but when you reach a new randomize level, it's very rewarding. I have yet to finish the game but I won't give up until I do. I would recommend this game to everybody who is willing to put some effort in game. As far as I'm concerned, Spelunky is the best XBLA game since Super Meat Boy, hands down !… Expand
  8. KongKK
    Aug 4, 2012
    9
    Excellent game that rewards and punishes appropriately. All your actions have risk / rewards and the sense of adventure feels so real. The controls may be tricky at the beginning but after awhile you will realise that they are ingenius. I'm not a fan of 2d platformers but this game is one hell of an exception.
  9. StinkMitts
    Jul 12, 2012
    9
    Though Spelunky's price of 1200points may seem steep for what seems like a re-port of an old classic, but the game speaks for its self. The addition of the co-op mode is worth the 1200 alone. The other user reviews are correct, if you dont like this game it is probably to hard for you, and the frustration factor will turn you off. If you are a gamer like me, however, this is the kind of challenging game you strive for in this world of CoDs and Gears of Wars where with every death there is a close by checkpoint and almost no sense of real danger. There is no mindless killing set to a direct path in Spelunky, a trait that has been all but lost on the new age of gaming and is a breath of fresh air for the XBLA. There was a reason we all spent are allowance every week back in the cartridge days renting these games over and over again never to even come close to beating them. BECAUSE THE CHALLENGE IS THE FUN. After every time you leave a door to a deeper more difficult stage of the caves, you feel you have ACTUALLY accomplished something, very rare in the modern gaming age where everything is determined by achievements or trophies, which could not produce a MORE hollow feeling of accomplishment. I am a big FPS fan and love all graphical advancements in gaming as much as the next guy, but there is something to be said for a game that can port from 16bits and be this good! Give me a giant machine gun and endless enemies to kill and you dont have to be that creative to make the game entertaining. But with a "simple" game like Spelunky, i use quotations because the action and adventure are FAR from simple, you have to create an atmosphere in the game that MAKES it interesting. Trust me your 100th death on stage 1-5 wont cause you to drop the game, and THAT ladies and gentlemen, is a full bodied PERSONAL achievement, not just a ghost of a former accomplishment that xbox has deemed "An Acheivement"! Those hundred deaths actually feel worth it! But i digress...
    Controls are smooth as butter. Though it can get extremely frustrating at times, the game was not constructed to be easy. It is definitely aimed at true gamers who have been playing these types of games since the years of nes, snes, genesis, and other similar systems. The frustration is almost what generates the fun aspect of the adventure. What fun is a game with no sense of underlying danger?! In Spelunky you are never more than one or two misplaced jumps away from being sent all the way back to the beginning of the cave to start your adventure again, stripped of everything you may have earned on your way. This sounds like a detrimental aspect of the game, but the beauty of it is that every time you start again you are playing a a totally different game! The levels are all randomly generated every time you enter a door, so there is no grinding repetition of beating the same baddies 50 times over before you finally advance to a new area. This is also where the seemingly overpowering cost of the game fades away. The replay value on spelunky is great, especially since your life is at stake 100% of the time, causing great deal of tension in each stage.
    All in all:
    Visual: very impressive for a 16 bit port. Colours are nice, bombs look great and the controls really, really complement the graphical style of the game as everything feels as smooth as it looks.
    Gameplay: single player and co-op both offer a great experience, have yet to try the deathmatch mode but it looks promising. The tension created by always being seconds from death and a full restart keep the game very exciting and permits a great amount of replay value.
    Replay Value: Every time you play it is a different experience as the game generates each stage independently and randomly with continuously more grave amounts of danger and pleasing amounts of treasure!
    Sound: Music is great, sound effects fit the game style could use music more to create tension, but the game is difficult enough to give you that feeling on its own
    Controls: Easy to learn because the game flows so smoothly, though it will take you time to master your adventurers skills to be a prosperous treasure hunter.
    IN CONCLUSION: Don't let the price scare you off, Spelunky may look like a cheesy remake of an old-school adventure platformer, but it is far from that. It is a crisp, fun, challenging and, best yet, never ending romp through the creative caves on your quest for the ultimate treasures!

    IF U ARE A *TRUE* GAMER AND CAN DEAL WITH THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL THAT GAMES USED TO BRING US... OR IF YOU HAVE AT LEAST ONE OTHER FRIEND TO HELP YOU ON YOUR QUEST FOR RICHES, GET THIS GAME!... ...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GET IT!    … Expand
  10. LazyChan
    Aug 18, 2012
    9
    Spelunky is a fantastic and fun platformer. Be warn it is hard, and there will be plenty of dying. Old school gamers will feel right at home playing such a difficult game. Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Mario etc. were all very hard. But their gameplay revolve around trial and error. Spelunky revolves around learning the game mechanics. There is no trial and error because every stage is randomly generated and each playthrough is unique. You progressively get better and when you complete the game, it is an accomplishment. It is a deep intrinsic game and you are guaranteed to come back even after dying dozens of time. Every death is the player's fault and that is what makes the game so great. It is not "cheap" in the traditional sense. It is very hard but fair.

    The controls are very responsive. It might kill you the first few times but after learning the core mechanics, you'll never fight against it. Multiplayer is great fun. Coop is just a mess of fun, with friends killing and sabotaging each other while trying to reach the end of a stage. Deathmatch is chaotic with bombs flying everywhere and plenty of wtf death. It's shallow but great for a quick laugh.

    I wish there was online coop play, split screen multiplayer, and an online coop leaderboard. Why omit a leaderboard for cooperative play, I'll never know. Despite these cons, the game is still a blast. 1200 msp seems a bit steep but fans of the platforming genre own it to themselves to check out this game. For everyone else, give it a try before buying. I'm sure many of you will agree this game is a hidden gem among the xbla library.    … Expand
  11. Lhuth
    Aug 24, 2012
    9
    Spelunky is singly the most frustrating game I have ever played, yet this somehow only adds to the sense of satisfaction when you finally edge a single level further than the time before. If you go into this game expecting the classic 2D platformer that you can breeze through and complete with ease, then you
  12. FearBeard
    Mar 6, 2013
    10
    the best rogue-like on the 360, the dungeon randomizes everytime you play, enemy encounteres are always varied and unique, and so many secrets to be found like going inside of a worm, castle, black market that you'll always find something new. this game is the crowning achievement of "just one more time" syndrom. ive spent 2hrs playing this game, saying "just one more" time after i die.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 53 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 53
  3. Negative: 0 out of 53
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 14, 2012
    90
    A highly addictive and ruthless (in a good way) 2D-platformer with an endless supply of random roquelike-levels. You won't beat this one in a hurry. [Sept 2012]
  2. X360 Magazine UK
    Sep 23, 2012
    50
    Frustrating. [Issue#89,p.82]
  3. GamingXP
    Sep 11, 2012
    80
    Spelunky is one true old-school platformer and worth a try for true fans of those hard retro games like Battletoads, but not quite as unforgiving.
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