The small and squishy Blobs are trying to escape their many, many, many natural predators. It’s dark, hopeless, scary and… kind of awesome.
Game Name: Hopeless 3: Dark Hollow Earth
Platform(s): Android, iOS
Publisher(s): Upopa Games
Developer(s): Upopa Games
Release Date: 28th Feb
Price: Free
The entries of the Hopeless series revolve around the Blobs. A race of bright yellow and evidently delicious creatures, in a dark world of toothy, demonic creatures. The 2 big advantages that the Blobs have? Teamwork and firepower.
The world of Hopeless is dark and lonely, monsters come up from the sky and below the ground to attack you and your cart as you try frantically to shoot them before they get you. Unfortunately there are also Blobs along the way that need saving who often get caught in the crossfire.
The game does a fantastic job of keeping you alert, with creatures remaining hidden until they are just in front of you. You need to make a split decision on whether or not to shoot the emerging mound of dirt… often killing a fleeing Blob.
Killing one of their own makes a Blob lose hope. They turn pale and are unable to fight, making it that much easier to be overwhelmed. As interesting as some of the gameplay choices are Hopeless 3: Dark Hollow Earth, is not very hard, even compared to some of the other games in the series.
There is also the addition of stereotypical Free-To-Play elements. A life counter that slowly refills, buyable, cosmetic hats and a countdown when applying upgrades. Needless to say they do not add any fun to the game.
What really makes the game memorable is the atmosphere. The dark and creepy graphics, wet dripping and hollow echoing sounds may be horror movie staples, but they fit right in here. The environments all feel different, with their own vehicles and weapons.
Even the menu screen taunts you. When trying to shut the game down the game asks you if you are afraid of the dark, or what will happen to the Blobs if you leave, which is a nice touch.
There are times (usually after a few upgrades) where the constant sound of weapons fire and monster death turns the mood into a kickass horror game. Then you accidentally take out two Blobs and suddenly you feel alone and scared again.
The game is relatively short, even with the F2P elements padding out the play time. More levels are promised, and they do look promising, but no time is promised beyond “coming soon”. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for updates.
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Short bursts of horror based fun!
Pros:
– Creepy atmosphere
– Legitimately caring about the Blobs
– competent gameplay
Cons:
– F2P elements
– Shorter than expected
– A little too easy
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Short bursts of horror based fun
