Action Game Review and Download Larva Mortus by Rake in Grass
Game Review by Jonathan Tran
Game Rating = 4/5 Balls
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Larva Mortus by Rake in Grass doesn’t pull any punches. With its self-proclaimed “cheesy horror atmosphere,” the game is about blowing up zombies with dynamite and mowing down 10-foot vampire bats with a machine gun. And it’s awesome.
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Consisting of both action and RPG elements, the gameplay is a cross between Diablo and The Legend of Zelda. Your faceless protagonist battles hordes of monsters from a top-down perspective, gaining experience and acquiring new weapons and power-ups along the way. When you gain a level, you can choose perks like more experience from kills or resistance to poison attacks. It’s a time-tested formula that works well in action/survival horror games.
The gameplay is fast and fun, as you clear room after room of baddies to an “AWESOME dark orchestral musical score.” The graphics are admittedly simple, but this keeps the computer requirements down and the action’s pace up. There is plenty of (optional) gore, and explosions look convincing, if not over the top. There’s even a Matrix-like effect when you use dynamite, slowing down time so you can watch your enemies blow up in full cinematic glory.
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After each mission you’re debriefed and taken to a world map at which you can choose your next assignment, varying in difficulty and scope. Some missions involve rescuing innocent bystanders, others require dismantling demonic altars, and some are just kill zones where you must slay a certain number of undead bosses. Although the mission structure is repetitive, the leveling system and randomly-generated dungeons ensure that replay value isn’t an issue.
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That said, there are two major problems with Larva Mortus.
First, there are still several bugs that, although not game breaking, detract from the experience. For instance, using ALT+TAB erases your video settings, exiting full screen mode. Additionally, several times in my adventure my guns no longer required reloading, essentially allowing me to use the shotgun as a machine gun. The sword’s hit detection is also wonky, sometimes missing enemies from a foot away, and other times killing five at once from across the room!
The second major issue with Larva Mortus is that the game is not very difficult. On Rake in Grass’ forum, one poster claimed that you could win simply by circling a room shooting. Though that’s a bit overstated, the tactic certainly works against most monsters. Playing the demo version of the game, which caps your level at five, I was able to easily beat even the five-star missions on normal difficulty. I imagine that if I were level ten or twenty with high-rank abilities the hardest dungeons would be laughably easy.
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Larva Mortus is a really fun game. The atmosphere is spooky, the action is intense, and the leveling system keeps things fresh. What few bugs exist will likely be fixed, and the game’s difficulty is, after all, subjective. If you enjoy the carnage and want more of a challenge, you could always try beating the whole game with just the sword!
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System Requirements
Windows XP/Vista or Mac OSX 10.3+, 1.2GHz, 256MB RAM, OpenGL support (recomended)
Rake In Grass created Larva Mortus.
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