There's something to be said about a game that gives you the weakest character imaginable. You've got to be a bold Developer to release such a game, knowing that at every step the gamer will most likely die - or, maybe you're just twisted and cruel. There's something else to be said about gamers who take pride in playing a game like this. I believe the phrase is "glutton for punishment." I'm proud to say that I'm one of these gamers. Spelunker HD, now available on the Playstation Network as DLC, is torturous fun. This platformer from Tozai Games will have you breaking records for the most deaths in the shortest amount of time, while you laugh at how silly you are for being addicted to the game.

Spelunker HD is a remake of the NES port of Tim Martin's Spelunker from Irem Software Engineering. This game is platforming at its fundamental best. You're a miner exploring a seemingly endless downward cavern. The only way to get from one platform to another is by jumping. Do anything else and you will die. If you fall off of a platform that is no more than an inch above another platform you will die. If you're swinging on a rope, and decide to push right on your control pad to reach the platform directly to your right, you will die. There's no power bar - just a handful of lives that quickly disappear.

The game gives you three modes of play: Solo, Group Excursion or Group Competition. Group Excursion allows gamers to play with up to four players locally or five players online. In this mode you explore as a team. In Competition mode, you can also play with four players locally or five online. In this mode, gamers will race to the end for the fastest time. Unfortunately, right now, it's hard to find enough gamers to play online so you'll have to either call up friends or stick to Solo mode.

In Solo Mode, gamers will venture through 100 levels of caverns. These range from your standard mine to ice caverns and ancient buried cities. The game looks simple enough. The only enemies come in the form of little creatures (like snakes) on the ground, ghosts and a few bats that like to rain poo-poo from above. Your "most dangerous" enemy is probably the ghost. There are two kinds. One is a giant ghost that you can use your fan on to shrink down to size. The second is another giant ghost that splits apart into several ghosts when you use your fan on it the first time. Sometimes you're forced to die. A giant ghost may appear while you're running from a boulder, leaving you trapped between a rock and a ball of protoplasm. The fan is activated with the Circle or Square button. You can also plant bombs by pressing down on your left thumbstick with either button as well as push up with any button to ignite a flare.

Although the boards are relatively short, it will take you several hours just to develop the patience to explore the caverns without dying. You only get an extra life when you beat a level so you will have to be deliberate about everything you do. Get to anxious and you'll fall into pit that's no higher than stepping off the bottom rung on your average ladder. Your Mario-looking miner is so weak he'll die instantaneously. Gamers who have the right disposition will make ample use of the right thumbstick, which allows you to temporarily enlarge or shrink the screen so that you can see what's coming next. But don't get too patient. You have somewhat of a time limit. You're stamina is constantly running out, marked by a bar at the top of the screen, so you will have to quickly "re-up" on time or you'll die. Do you see the pattern yet? You die. Nuff said.

What's nice about the game is that it is designed with both contemporary graphics and retro 8-bit graphics. It actually presents two different styles of play. While the retro graphics feels a bit clunky, blasts from the bombs you set won't hurt you. While in the modern graphics, the bombs have a blast radius that will kill you. Whenever I lost all my lives, I would just start the game back up in a different style of graphics. It gives gamers variety through a simple switch that changes the experience. In classic mode, instead of fire, you see what looks like several specs of dirt. You have to really use your imagination to believe that it is fire. I don't know how I ever thought these kinds of traps were threatening as a kid, but if you played the NES you will really appreciate the graphics and level of 8-bit detail (or rather lack thereof). One thing to note is that the music really gets you excited to work your way through the caverns. When you switch to classic NES graphics, the music will also be a throwback to 8-bit gaming music.

Spelunker HD is well deserving of accolades. This is easily one of the best platformers I've played this year. The concept is simple and though the game doesn't have the story or art of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood or Enslaved, it still manages to be one of the most compelling games of 2010. Every time you die, you'll think, "Wait, if I had only done that differently I could have gotten a little farther. Let me try again." Sure enough, you'll get a little farther each time, only to die once again - hopefully, not by poo-poo from above.

Final Score: A-