Super Crate Box (0)

First release date

2010-10-22

Platform

Mac PC iPhone iPad Android PlayStation Network (Vita) PlayStation 4 Ouya

Developer

Vlambeer

Publisher

Vlambeer Halfbot

Overview

Super Crate Box is a shooter-platformer in which the objective is to collect crates for a high score while fighting off hordes of enemies. With further progression through the game and higher scores the player can unlock new player skins, more modes of play, and more experimental weapons.

Gameplay

A game of Super Crate Box starts with the player in the middle of the level with a basic pistol and a single crate spawning at a random location. Almost immediately enemies will begin to fall from a hole at the top of the level, ranging from small green skulls, large green skulls, and flying white skulls, in varying patterns of waves.

Unlike most video games of the ilk, defeating enemies doesn't gain the player any points instead the only way to earn points (and progress to harder levels) is to collect crates without colliding with an enemy, which instantly kills the player. Each crate contains a different weapon which the player's character will automatically switch to. This presents a dilemma as some weapons are better at certain situations than others but in order to keep it the player must forgo earning points and thus progressing. To further complicate this task, a pit is placed at the bottom of the level which kills the player if they fall in, but upgrades enemies to a much quicker,dangerous state if they progress to the pit. They will then respawn at the top of the screen to repeat the path to the bottom, while new enemies continue to spawn. In order to maintain a high score the player must balance out the tasks of collecting crates with using the weapons found in the crates to keep enemy numbers to a minimum.

Gameplay Modes

Normal - The enemies spawn at the top of the stage at an average spawn rate.
SFMT - The enemies spawn at the top of the stage at a quicker spawn rate.
Ambush - The enemies spawn in random locations at an average spawn rate.

Weapons

After subsequent playthroughs, the player will unlock certain milestones based off of high scores as well as total crates accumulated of the course of play time. These milestones will make available new weapons, characters, and unlock new levels and difficulties. Being as such, while the player's options are somewhat limited during their first few playthroughs, they can use unlocked weapons from prior games to improve their scores in further play.

Weapons include:

Weapon Name	Unlock Conditions	Description
	None	You always start out with one, fires a single bullet
Dual Pistols	None	Shoots bullets both ways
	None	Wide area damage, close range, takes a while to reload
	None	Fires missile with exploding AOE damage
	None	Fires bullets continuously, has small recoil that can push player off platform eventually
	10 Crates	Fires quick large bullets with a large amount of damage
	30 Crates	Creates fire that will harm enemies while they walk in it, makes player jump if walked in
Disc Gun	60 Crates	Shoots out circular discs that can rebound once and possibly kill the player (The only weapon that can directly kill the player).
	100 Crates	Plant for exploding AOE damage upon contact with an enemy
	150 Crates	Fires bullets very quickly with a large spread but has massive recoil
	210 Crates	Short range melee weapon
	280 Crates	Fires grenades at an angle that have exploding AOE damage
Laser Rifle	360 Crates	Charges a beam that can fire across the whole stage, the charge can also act as a melee weapon

Stats

Overall statistics the game keeps track of include:

Crates Gotten
Overall kills
Overall Deaths
Minutes Played

More specific statistics include:

Highest score for each stage on each mode
Number of times you've killed each enemy
Number of times you've died to each enemy
Number of times you've fallen into the fire pit
Number of times you've been killed by a disc from the disc gun

An iPhone and iPad version has also been announced, and was scheduled to be released in September, 2011. But was eventually released on January 5, 2012.

Super Crate Box can be downloaded for free for PC and Mac on the game's alongside an online leaderboard and a download link for the game's quirky chiptune soundtrack.

The game was also nominated for an award in the Excellence in Design category, but lost to .