High difficulty games; hurts so good or just plain painful? If you try Chris Jeffrey's one-button arcade title Space is Key 2, you'll probably make up your mind in a hurry. You control a little square that moves forward automatically, and the only thing you can do is hit the [spacebar] at the right time to make it leap over obstacles or explode in a shower of pixels upon contact with one. Each stage has three floors to get through, and if you fail at one, you only have to restart that particular spot... of course, that's all the mercy the game is willing to give you. You'll have to contend with obstacles that move and expand, switches that raise or lower things, and your own rising twitchiness if you want to succeed at the game's twenty levels and ten challenges.
High difficulty games can create some of the most polarising experiences you'll encounter; you either love them, or you can't understand why anyone would be willing to do this to themselves. With its snappy presentation and straight-forward gameplay, Space is Key 2 is hardly innovative, but it is a well polished little torture device for your reflexes. More than anything, it's a great illustration of how hard you can force players to push themselves at a simple concept just by implying it should be easy. So go ahead and warm up that [spacebar]... you looked too relaxed today anyway.
You can put your keyboard on the floor and play it with your foot!
beat it with 369 deaths, and 447 deaths in challenge mode! Not too tough!
Sadly, I am one of those people who cannot understand why people play high difficulty games. It's too finicky for me.
486 deaths - great fun!
Made it out with ZERO deaths
after my 475th
! WOOOO!!! :D
904 deaths for me....
I love this sort of thing - even if I am useless at it....
807 deaths on regular mode, but only 470 deaths on the challenge mode!
Wow, 812, and 559 in challenge, almost quit several times.
Beat it with 491 on my first try.
While it's a straight-up rehash of the first one, I still prefer this one since the levels aren't insanely pixel-precision-tight as one of the levels in the original game was. Enjoyable distraction, if slightly frustrating.
Two things though:
- I hate using the space key, since just about any other key is more responsive and easier to press. Allowing customization would probably screw with the title though...
- The "More games" button on the bottom left. Kill it, burn it, banish it, whatever, it needs to be gone.
I agree, not really fond of this game since space really is the least responsive key on the keyboard and it was sometimes hard for me to pull off quick successive presses. I was doing pretty well until the "Remember me?" section of the game (level 15 or 16?) left me with as many deaths as the previous levels combined, and then just called it quits.
I had to take some loooong breaks, but I finally finished it! I feel pretty accomplished. That was really difficult but quite addicting.
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