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Games dependant on gameplay rather than great graphics don't tend to do well when it comes to marketing, word of mouth or in how they sell which is a shame in all honesty. Most of the time, these titles are developed by small teams or in fact, one or two people only. No matter how good the gameplay is, the sales don't turn out very well even if the gameplay matches or eclipses that of titles with a much larger budget.

Larva Mortus is one such game that has it's focus on gameplay rather than graphics, however the gameplay in this title won't get people gossiping about how good it is. Instead, it's good for passing the time with as the levels do not take long to complete.

Story:

Despite the game being developed by an indie company, who are known for developing games without stories but with simple/good gameplay, the game does actually feature a story even if it's bare bones and is just there to provide a reason for the action taking place.

The game features some simplistic cutscenes that use still images to tell a story and the story focuses on the main character who is a hunter searching for some special artifacts that are dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. It's there to provide an excuse for slaying lots of zombies, vampires, werewolves and other foes ripped right out of the horror films.

Gameplay:

Upon booting the game up, creating a profile and starting a new game, you'll be taken to a screen that shows a map after a cutscene has played. There are various notes scattered around the map. These represent levels you can tackle, or if you prefer, quests. With the exception of the few story missions included, these levels are randomly generated and are infinite. Clearing a level makes another note appear and exiting the game, then re-entering and loading the profile re-organises what quests are available for you to embark on.

The levels themselves consist of a bunch of 'rooms'. You go from room to room clearing out all of the enemies and if you leave a room before they're all defeated and return, new enemies will be spawned. Weapon wise, there's quite a few to choose from and there is a variety of foes to fight. The objectives vary from level to level as well but the levels are the same when push comes to shove. They all boil down to killing lots of enemies.

The star of the game is the levelling system though. There's no level cap and when you defeat enemies, you level up and can assign one point to various statistics (you get two when you gain level one). It's a nice system really but the levels can take a long time to earn.

Graphics, presentation and sound:

The game is never going to get the world gossiping, but they do the job. A nice touch though is the description of the enemies replete with statistics and also descriptions of the weapons and items. The developers didn't need to include those details but they did.

Overall:

The game is decent for slapping on for a quick play through and there aren't many story missions.

Learn more about this author, Dan Cartwright.
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