Double Fine’s spelunking tour has been released to PSN and XBLA. Is it a beautiful adventure or will it leave you with the smell of guano?

Design

The Cave is a puzzle platformer created by Double Fine and written by “point and click” game aficionado Ron Gilbert. Gilbert is the writer behind such games as Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. Gilbert’s humor is shown through the different NPC’s, the most notable one being The Cave as it narrates your adventures and taunts your characters. In The Cave the player chooses between seven diverse characters, ranging from a Monk to a Scientist, taking three of them into The Cave to get the object they desire. This means, to see everything the game has to offer, the player has to play the game three times. The “point and click” style puzzles lurk within each of the different levels, with each of three characters being able to hold one item. This essentially means most of the puzzles are switch based. Since there is no way to call all the characters to one position, the constant switch can become tedious; it feels like constant backtracking with an already repetitive game.

Gameplay

The gameplay in the Cave is rather simplistic, with character A flipping a switch so character B can get an item, move a platform to for character C to finish the level. Though the puzzles can be deviously difficult to solve, some of them have obtuse solutions. The Time Traveler has the most puzzling level, as it takes place in three different time lines. The most interesting levels in the game are the character levels. While searching through The Cave, the player can find cave paintings that tell the story of each of the seven characters and what sins they have committed in the past.

Presentation

The presentation in The Cave is moderate, with some areas looking better than others. The character levels have the most design aesthetic, as they show the world and personality of that individual character. An example being the knight’s level that takes place in a medieval castle as the player tries to please the residing princess by getting the Dragon’s gold.

If you purchase The Cave on XBLA be prepared for lag. The Cave’s pace slows to a crawl each time the camera follows the player when one of the characters jump. Since The Cave is a puzzle platformer, the player is going to be doing a lot of jumping. On the PSN there were no glaring frame rate issues to speak of.

Conclusion

In the end, The Cave is a puzzling platformer that can become repetitive. The puzzles that were once teeth grittingly difficult become a breeze on your second and subsequent playthroughs.

Ron Gilbert’s humor is enjoyable as it shines through The Cave with The Cave’s taunts and bad grammar. Though not perfect, it certainly feels like Double Fine and Ron Gilbert have brought the point and click aesthetic away from a keyboard and mouse and to the consoles and controllers.

8 out of 10