Dissection: Wheeler's Treasure

Dubbed as a “Piratey Platformer” by its developers, Wheeler’s Treasure is a unique platformer in the form of a collect ‘em up survive-a-thon. After a successful demonstration at AVCon, and a recent launch, does Adelaide-based TwoLivesLeft’s title have what it takes to keep mobile treasure hunters?


Wheeler’s Treasure puts you in control of the lost pirate Captain Wheeler, guiding a cursed wooden wheel through a continuous stage littered with enemies, cannonballs, grenades and environmental hazards. Throughout the course of your adventures, you’ll gain items that give you bonus abilities, aside from cosmetic customisation.

The game starts off with the tutorial being the only accessible option, going over the basics of jumping, collecting treasure and defeating enemies. After 2 minutes of training; you’re able to jump straight into the adventure mode of the game. The controls are intuitive enough, flicking will make your character jump and icons on the screen can be held or tapped to activate a represented item’s action. As mentioned before, the main portion of the game is the Adventure Mode, which pits you against skeletons, cannonballs and a variety of other obstacles. Your primary goal is to manage your wheel’s integrity, while watching your own health. Other modes include Rush Mode which sends the wheel flying across the screen, keeping your fingers constantly flicking left and right, trying to keep up.


Cannonballs will destroy panels of the wheel, but these can be repaired every 20 coins you obtain. Unfortunately, the Crows will give you a rough time trying to achieve this, stealing coins from right in front of you. All of these enemies are easily beaten with a simple Mario-esque jump on the noggin. While your wheel rolls through the stages, you’ll come across environmental hazards, ranging from healing water, through to scorching lava. You can place your character in a pool of water to heal while the wheel catches up to you -- or while you have time to catch up to it! Green oozy pools will drain your health if you stand in them for too long, while Lava pools will do the same, but will also burn away panels of your wheel.

To top off this stunning package is the inclusion of the OpenFeint system, giving players goals in the form of achievements and tombstones where rival players have perished in the course of their games. Within the game itself, Wheeler’s Treasure offers players treasure maps they can find by performing specific goals, such as “Jump on 3 cannonballs”, giving the player access to more treasure items to help them on their adventures. These treasure items give the player abilities, such as; grappling onto the wheel with a hand hook and double jumping with special boots.


Wheeler’s Treasure may have some unique gameplay elements, but the main standout feature is quite easily its graphical presentation and soundtrack. You can tell that utmost care was taken in regards to rendering each sprite within the game and it shows. Every portion of text is easily readable and each non-gameplay screen features a help section, making sure you’re never lost within its interface. The soundtrack is a beautiful composition of pirate themed tunes, which dynamically change with the tempo of the game.

Wheeler's Treasure is a very unique concept that allows for multiple styles of play. It’s very easy to pick up, with an understandable tutorial and amazing design. Truly a stand out title within a sea of mediocrity. Purchase it now at the app store!

Links:
App Store - Purchase this game!
TwoLivesLeft - The people who made Wheeler's Treasure.