The Wizards Who Fell In A Hole was developed and published by Battenberg Software. It was released on XBLIG on November 4, 2010 for 80MSP.

The Wizards Who Fell in a Hole is a simple story about two moronic wizards who while on a journey happen to fall into a hole. Once in the hole they discover a world of monsters trying to keep them from getting out. Just like games of the past such as Bubble Bobble for the NES this classic style platformer has a simple concept, kill all the enemies on each of a 100 levels and get the wizards back home.

Here’s what we liked:

Graphics – The graphics in Wizards are simple yet very intriguing. It’s very rare that you see claymation anymore let alone in a video game. One of the nice things about everything being made of clay is that there’s no color or palette swapping going on. We’re not sure if someone’s a great scultptor with a camera or whether these were hand drawn, but they look great.

Characters – Every character in The Wizards Who Fell In A Hole is unique in their own way. They have a variety of abilities, from flying to shooting to passing through walls. Players will constantly be on their toes, wondering what the next stage will hold.

Cooperative gameplay – One of the best things about any video game now is being able to sit down with a buddy and enjoy all the hi-jinks together. This game allows two players to buddy up and play from beginning to end, sharing in the fun.

Here’s what we don’t like:

To short – All though this game does have 100 stages it’s still over all to quickly. Game time can be extended by playing solo with the number of continues turned down. On the inverse adding in a second player or turning up the number of continues makes the game fly by. Add in the fact that keys can be collected on several levels that allow the player to skip anywhere from one level to three levels at a time makes the game just not quite long enough.

Level design – There’s a lot of potential here but it just never quite seems to branch far enough out from level to level. Once in a while the game will throw in a hazard such as spikes or something useful like a spring for higher jumps. The problem is these things are used too sparingly so players never learn to worry about them.

No level select – Leaving out the ability to restart from any level desired is just not right. Some of the levels were really enjoyable; others would be nice to go directly back to and try solo or coop such as the boss levels.

The Wizards Who Fell In A Hole strikes into the hearts of fans of the old school, simpler games such as Bubble Bobble. Players can’t help but smile as they play through. The game is also very family friendly and can be played with a second player, adding some on-the-couch coop fun. It’s one heck of a cheap fun game.  Fans of both old school games and simple, fun games: this is the indie game for you.

Score: Buy it