Just perfect!
A perfect addictive game that follows the theme of Abraham and Isaac and STILL feels right and wrong.
Don't get me wrong though. When i mean wrong it's in the good ways, the darkness of this game is dosed extremely good, between freakin scary/strange monsters, a soundtrack that blend with the spirit of the game and with so many items used in ways that you never thought of.
The game starts when Isaac try to escape his insane mom through a trap door in is bedroom.
The first thing you notice: the HUD. The one that so many players have seen, back in the days of the NES, in it's golden cartridge.
It is the exact replica of the Zelda HUD with the obvious touch of Edmund McMillen.
Next comes the gameplay, when you start to move, just like in Super Meat Boy, everything seems right again. Isaac goes exactly where you want him to go, and if you think he is slow or is too weak this is where the little RPG part is introduced. With over 100 items that boost one of the 4 types of stats or gives some other ability, you are in an tornado of character customization. "Character customization? But you never talked about character customization neolink!!" It's because of how the item in game looks! Almost each item you'll find will change Isaac's look. Like the hanger that gives you the bonus "Tears up" where you shoot faster, well, this hanger will pass directly through the head of our little crying hero "to make him cry more".
That brings me now to the combat system. In the game, the poor Isaac is crying all the water of his body. He cries so much, that it'll serves as a weapon against the 50 monsters or more, that crawls the darkest parts of his basement. Eventually, you'll find special items too, hidden in designated rooms that'll help our little buddy in different ways. Like the chocolate milk that gives you the ability to charge your shots. But this little guy is stuck with a problem, he can shoot only in four direction. North/east/west/south are the only directions that Isaac can face when he shoots tears, but the game mechanics were thought precisely in this manner. If you start shooting (either with the arrow buttons on your keyboard or with your left mouse button) while running to the left, the little tear balls will follow a curved path in this direction. Eventually you'll find bombs too. Useful for breaking rocks or against some bosses.
The bosses list deserve the attention too. With over 20 bosses, you'll have your part of surprise during the game. And it's the same with the game itself. The six levels or more are randomly generated just to make sure it doesn't get boring after a game or two, giving you extreme replayability. Add to this, 43 achievements that'll make you retry the game again and again. The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike/adventure game that gives you more than the 5$ it's worth.
There's the soundtrack that deserve the attention too. Courtesy of Danny Baranowsky, he brings us an extremely dark soundtrack to blend with the game marvelously. When you play, you actually FEEL the wrongness that the game atmosphere gives. Edmund McMillen's artistic signature is, again, a beauty for the eyes. Everything is so cartoonish but still so grim and gory at the same time.
So my final score for this game is a perfect 10. I think it's the best 5 dollars i spent in a very long time. I really recommend this game, it's fresh, fun and addictive. log on to steam and buy it! (-Beware of the game difficulty =D-)