DEATHPIT 3000

Review

The Glactic Empire has spread to almost every part of our Galaxy. And like every Empire we have seen on earth, they have established powerful and dangerous games to entertain the population. With the Roman Empire we had the gladiator games, and now in the Glactic Empire we have death pits stationed deep in space! Are you daring enough to enter these terrifying death pits and be crowned champion of The Glactic Empire? Yes . . .  Then welcome to DEATHPIT 3000.

DEATHPIT 3000 is a top-down / local co-op action game where you take control of one of five available human clones, and your goal is to survive wave after wave of enemies until you reach the boss of these death pits and become victorious (single player).

Before I start, I would like to mention that I have only played this game on the single player mode at this stage.

As you arrive on the main page, you’ll see a rotating station in space with a few planets around it and a bright and shiny sun in the background. Then, a sign will pass across your screen advertising the upcoming game with the slogan “Watch them die tonight”! Other objects will float around, too, and you’ll identify them very quickly as body parts from the previous contestant.

In the single player mode, you have access to four death pits, the first of which has five stages including an induction level. The other levels are classified as qualifier, quarter final, semi-final and final. Each of these levels has a certain number of waves to eliminate in order to unlock the next phase. In the final, you’ll have to get rid of a larger number of waves, and a boss too. In terms of difficulty, it will increase with each death pit and can be quite challenging.

When you start a game, you can choose between one of four human clones, a colour for your character and one out of four abilities available to you. There is another clone but you have to unlock it.  Two of the abilities are defensives and the other two are offensives. Then you can jump into the death pit.

Some of these death pits are well-lit, while others are fairly dark, but don’t worry - you’ll have a light at your disposal. Your character will be placed at the centre of the pit. You’ll see one or more open blue boxes (that’s what I call them). These boxes will be extremely important to you during the gameplay, as they can heal you and refill your ammunition every time you hover over them. Your character will be armed with a hand cannon and a melee weapon to combat the first wave of enemies. When you successfully eliminate the entire wave, notes of money will appear in the middle of the pit and usually next to one of these blue boxes. Pick them up, position your character on the blue box and activate the shop. Here you’ll have up to twenty five seconds to upgrade your weapons, equipment and other cool stuff to battle more efficiently during the next wave. Make sure you destroy all the boxes and crates around the pit as most of them contain great goodies and money.

The graphics are pretty good and the soundtrack is great! In terms of control, you can only play with your mouse and keyboard at this stage but I believe the developers are working on a gamepad support at the moment, which should be released soon as part of an update. Another aspect I personally like is the database (wiki of the game). If you want to know all about the game, head up to the database! It’s a good read and you’ll learn all about the game and its features. The game is well priced and gives plenty of replay-ability. One thing I think the game is missing is an open level for single player, and a leader board too.