ShadowPain reminds me of the old school dungeon crawling and RPG type games. The graphics are definitely old school which is not a bad thing; it adds some charm to the game. So what is your quest?
Your mission is to go as far as you can without dying. Once dead (and the screen turns red), you will be transported back to the start. The game has some nice features in that there are random levels, so there will always be a surprise waiting for you. If you make it through the level, you will face the boss. Defeat the boss to move on.
As you fight, you will gain experience and strength. You will be able to equip your character with: swords,armor, head gear, foot gear, rings, and different powers. Each of these items will help you along the way.
In addition to these items you will have potions and dexterity, food, and power. If you are familiar with this type of game then you will see how it all fits together.
You move your character through the levels via an on screen dpad (which you can turn on/off). All of the critical items you need to keep up with are on the screen the whole time. Overall the layout of these is not bad but they do take up some space.
The tutorial in the game is really an explanation of the screens, menu items etc. I figure out most items and how they work after playing it a while. After I died (numerous times) I was a bit lost on what to do. The game did not automatically transport me back, I had to do it. Also you do not automatically level up, again you have to do it, within the main menu.
For me the game played slow. I got a bit bored, moving my character around and killing things. Just seemed to take too long. Now my middleschooler on the other hand, really enjoyed the game and leveled rather quickly.
For old school type gamers, ShadowPain might be one you want to try. I think a more interactive tutorial, more explanation on equipment, potions, and speeding up game play some would make the game better but you can be the judge.
