[GLA]The Sparkster

Have you played Nethack? How about Crawl, or SLASH'em? Have you made fun of them behind their backs, and then smiled politely when you saw them walk by on the street?

This will be the Roguelike for you. It contains tons of classic elements -- the randomly designed levels, the urge to kill you approximately constantly, and difficult layouts -- and then lampoons as much as it can along the way. You'll get monsters yelling at you, incredibly useless-seeming items, abilities that may or may not help you at any point, and a hearty congratulations upon your eventual death.

Luckily, for those of you not as adept with the concept of 'Permadeath' (think hardcore mode in ol' Diablo 2 -- die, and your character is gone permanently) the game does offer a mode on each difficulty level that removes the permadeath in lieu of saving when you need it. But, then again, I'm a purist.

For the genre faithful, this game offers plenty of challenge. For the new, it can be a fun, if wildly difficult, romp.