BOT-C can collect various weapon upgrades, including new swords, bats and even a frying panCreature In The Well
TAKE ON THIS DUNGEON-CRAWLER AND BECOME A PINBALL WIZARD REBECCA STOW
PUBLISHER FLIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO / DEVELOPER FLIGHT SCHOOL STUDIO / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £12.49/$14.99
surrounded by danger and electrical
attacks coming in from all angles.
It’s in these rooms that BOT-C’s
charge move comes in handy. By
pressing Y you’ll perform a simple
sword slash, but if you hold X and
charge up, you’ll be able to collect and
fire off multiple orbs with twice the
power. Charging up your shots also
allows for precision aiming, making
for more accurate hits that bounce
off more bumpers and earn you bonus
points. It just takes time to do it.Well-oiled machine
Creature In The Well offers up huge
amounts of fun, and there’s nothing
quite like building up a combo as you
send electric orbs crashing into the
walls and bumpers around BOT-C.
After you destroy every obstacle, all
the orbs bouncing off the walls will be
pulled into one massive gravitational
surge, culminating in a thrilling
electromagnetic explosion.
The visuals aren’t bad, either. Amid
the desert sandstorm, grainy yellows
and orange tans blend together
to create the feeling of being lostMixing two awesome
things together
doesn’t always
pay off. Eating a
delicious burger?
Adding a dollop of
chocolate ice cream won’t do the meal
any favours. And it’s the same with
gaming; there are some genres that
just don’t mesh well. But if you think
that dungeon-crawlers and pinball
machines couldn’t and shouldn’t be
fused together, Creature In The Well
aims to prove you wrong.
Fire up the game and you’ll find
our plucky robot hero BOT-C lost in
a sandstorm. Lost, that is, until he
stumbles upon a lonely town. With the
residents out of power and isolated
from the rest of the world, he decides
to help. As one of the last engineer
bots, BOT-C resolves to restore
power to the nearby facility, returning
electricity and hope to the town.
Sounds simple enough, except
BOT-C finds that a giant monster
known as the ‘Creature In The Well’
has made the facility its home and
disabled the power. Worse still, in
order to deter anyone from entering,
the Creature has littered the facility
with booby-traps. BOT-C must advance
through each room by using his sword
to bounce orbs of electricity off the
bumpers that emerge from the floor,
powering up the facility pinball-style.
Clearing the room of all bumpers
and obstacles will grant BOT-C an
amount of electrical power, which
can be used to unlock doors. As in
any dungeon-crawler, some rooms
are simple, containing only a few
obstacles, and in others you’ll be
and overwhelmed. Once inside the
facility, deep blues and greens infer
abandonment and neglect. You also
get the skeletal Creature watching
BOT-C from the shadows, overtly
suggesting that you’re never as alone
as the world might suggest.
It should be noted, however, that
Creature In The Well is challenging.
Pools of electrical liquid recharge
BOT-C’s health, but they are few and
far between. Worst of all, if you die,
the Creature will pluck you from the
facility and throw you outside. You’ll
then have to return to the building
and retrace your steps until you reach
the last room you visited. This can be
an agonising part of the game, and
slogging back to where you died feels
like a seriously outdated mechanic.
But, ultimately, it is worth it.
Creature In The Well is a hectic joy to
play, and the unlikely genre fusion
works astonishingly well. Maybe
someone should try that ice cream
burger after all! Qshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
A dungeon-crawler
and pinball machine
mishmash.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Victor Vran meets
Pinball Star.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Anyone who’s a fan of
creative indie games
and unique concepts.“The Creature
has littered the
facility with
booby-traps”
OXM VERDICT
An enjoyable
combination
of dungeon-
crawler ethos and
pinball chaos.8
LEFT Built into
the side of a
sandy mountain,
the power
facility is
certainly a
daunting place.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 079REVIEW