Age rating: 7+ (PEGI)
What is it?
Update of the “classic” side-scrolling, platformer starring Arthur the Knight.
Is it fun?
No. Annoying and frustrating, yes.
Is it worth the money? £24.99
No.
Why?
To be honest I never really liked the original Ghosts n’ Goblins game when it was released in the arcades during the mid-80s. It was an incredibly difficult and unforgiving game, which although was the norm at the time (e.g. R-Type or Gauntlet), Ghost n’ Goblins made it as hard as possible for the player. Heck, you even had to the complete the game twice in the same go to see the real ending! This resulted in most of the game remaining hidden to all but the most obsessive player. That’s me out then.
Until now that is, or that’s what all the reviews of this all singing, all dancing PSP version would lead you to believe. Rubbish. Yes, they have made the game slightly easier (you have more lives and your armour lasts a lot longer) but it is still bloody hard. Annoyingly hard, just like the original. Mmm, great. Well at least you can complete level 1 now. Woohoo.
There are so many ways to die and so many monsters to help you die that eventually I just get bored by the whole thing. I didn’t enjoy playing this game, instead I battled through it and for me that’s not my idea of having fun. The only good point of this game is its shortness so the whole painful experience of playing is over quickly.
Sure the graphics are impressive, even rivalling Killzone Liberation for the prettiest PSP graphics title, but all this graphical gloss can’t hide what is a basic and unappealing game. Avoid.
Screenshots:
December 30th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
We used to play the original a lot in college. Mostly because the knight would turn into an old man – which many found hilarious. In other words, it was kind of a cheap gag for drunk people.
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
no way – this game is fantastic! You relly need to persevere with it, its no where near as hardcore as the original. You get some amazing weapons, loads of cool suit powerups (later ones let you fly around levels) – and the levels are never too big. The art is top notch too. Only the level where you travel on a cloud was a tad too hard (lots of being knocked off into the abyss until you got the hang of it). You get teleport keys too, that let you hop between levels.
Its a top game, the more time you invest in it, the more you get out of it! :)
January 6th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
The 1up crew were with cheezles on this one – but knowing a bit about the lady and gent behind The Average Gamer I’m not surprised they said it was frustrating. Those with a family and real work etc to do may not have the time to spend on this. We’re not casual gamers but don’t have enough free time to really work at a game like this :)
January 6th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I wonder how much of 1ups and Cheezles views were influenced by the fact they played the game when it originally came out. Using them rose-tinted glasses again people?
When you really look at what the game offers you, it’s not great. Yes, you can work at it and reach the final levels but I defy anyone to tell me that they actually enjoyed doing this. I bet it even really narked off Cheezles on more than one occasion.
Oh, and that level where you travel on a cloud. Evil and really annoying.
But as I said at the start I never really liked the original game and I was just expecting a bit more from this PSP update than some more weapons and a bigger health bar.