## Description

_1001 Spikes_ is a difficult platformer designed with the retro aesthetics of
an 8-bit game. It is an enhanced version of Aban Hawkins & 1000 Spikes. It was
remade entirely with an improved visual style, more than twice the levels,
redesigned levels, additional modes and additional characters. The protagonist
is Aban Hawkins who explores different environment in search for his father,
the archeaologist Jim Hawkins, and the treasure of Poko-Mum rumoured to be
behind a golden door. He travels through Antarctica and South America with
locations such as jungle, caverns and lava temples.

The title references the amount of lives the player has to complete the game.
These are needed to complete the hard levels filled with enemies and traps
such as spikes, boulders, falling platforms, crushing blocks, etc. – requiring
a lot of trial and error. Basic controls consist of movement, a regular and a
high jump, and an attack move (both melee and ranged). It is also possible to
talk to characters at certain moments. A large amount of characters and
additional costumes can be unlocked throughout the game, usually by
discovering gold skulls in levels. Certain characters have specific abilities.
The character Ninja Aban for instance is able to brief hold on to walls and
perform a wall jump, Tina Hawkins (his sister) can cling to walls, and
President Thompson has a double jump. Other characters are variants of Aban
such as Soldier Aban and Slayer Aban (a nod to Castlevania), or characters
from indie games such as Meat Boy (Super Meat Boy), Nyx (NyxQuest: Kindred
Spirits), Curly Brace (Cave Story), Commander Video (Bit.Trip) and a large
amount from Super Time Force. There are also references to classic games such
as Ghost ‘N Goblins’ Sir Arthur’s white armour, Nathan Drake (Uncharted) for
the PlayStation version and Mr. Video Game (Mario) for the Wii U and 3DS
version. Each character has its own story elements, but cannot be swapped on
the fly or between levels; they each have their full campaign.

Spikes are the common hazard to avoid and most levels have a key required to
open the door that leads to the next level. For the first part of the game
players have the ability to skip certain levels, but this locks off the second
part of the campaign where this is disabled. That means that to complete the
entire game, eventually all levels need to be completed, but it is possible to
access a world map and return to any of them. The story mode contains 61
levels and the entire games has more than 100 levels. The game can locally be
played cooperatively with up to four players and also in a versus mode. Next
to the main story mode there are three arcade modes called The Golden Vase,
Tower of Nannar, and The Lost Levels. The first is the versus mode where
players fight each other to beat coins out of vase. These coins, also found in
the story mode, can be spent in a shop for unlockables. The other two are
additional campaigns for solo or cooperative play. The Vita and 3DS versions
lack the arcade modes and multiplayer.

Aban Hawkins & the 1001 Spikes: The Temple of the Dead Mourns the Living