Ghosts 'n Goblins

"A bit too hard, a bit too silly, and (not sure why) a bit too addicting."

It seems that just about every game that gives an immediate impression of silliness takes pains to make things hard for you. Ghosts 'n' Goblins, this right(and occasionally up) scroller where you get your woman stolen from you while in a graveyard, does nothing to disprove this notion, especially considering there are a lot more demons, zombies, and other afterlife riffraff(bats too!) than, well, ghosts and goblins. Especially when you have to put your armor back on. From there, things look pretty simple as you jump over tombstones and shoot zombies that move from under the earth, towards you, and back under again. Then you meet an obnoxious raven that flies up-and-down towards you(it's tough to shoot, but you can duck if you're the right distance away.) But the worst is yet to come--there's a small red demon who, with his relatives, will show up again throughout the game. He doesn't do much until you approach or shoot him(hint: it's better to shoot him) and then he seems to swoop down at you at random, making him more of a pain than a lot of the bosses, even if sometimes you can lose him off the side of the screen. While it's nice that you have the equivalent of two chances per life, unless you fall into water or a hole(in fact, this is another thing that makes the game seem like it may be too easy at first. Basically, you lose your armor, then next time you turn into a pile of bones) you often need it, and the game is generous enough to recharge your armor after each of the six levels ends. There is one catch, however--you jump back when you're hit, and if you fall in somewhere, the seconds of invincibility you get don't mean much--tough for you. It even allows you, sometimes at random, to exchange your weapon--which isn't always for the best. Of the five items(flames, sword, javelin, shield and axe) the flame and axe seem the coolest, but they really both stink. Along the way you can also pick up bags of money(is your girlfriend a gold-digger?) and shining armor which may turn you into a frog if you're unlucky(NOT FUNNY!)

Your progress is charted after each time you complete a level or lose a life. There are twelve stops you can make before the final fight with Mr. Really Big. Every other one indicates a new overall scene. This is pretty helpful since you would otherwise despair of reaching the end. In a rare display of generosity by the game you can often get by the halfway point without defeating the demon that guards that area--run by him and you're safe to the next part if you die.

As to level-by-level outlook, the first is a pretty good introductory level. It's not too hard to get to the red demon or the boss, and most of the time you just move to the right although you have the option to walk through a plateau at the start. The second starts off much too hard, requiring jumping and almost immediately avoiding what look like imps, and it's really annoying how going straight right can kill you off. Some big tan guys also come into play, and the blue balls they shoot at you are obnoxious as you climb up and down a building. Then there are some more imps before a pretty easy boss. Bats are featured in level 3, along with a series of demons. There are some weird things that look like rooks for a chess game that fire bowling balls at you. Not too hard, but interesting. The final battle is a dragon, which I found creative. You blast it sort of like you're playing Centipede. A bit too much blue coloring near the end, but a decent level. In level four you jump across a bunch of holes than cross a bridge over fire, which is neat. Levels five and six force you to climb, and there are a whole lot of demons and tan guys, which makes it annoying to pick them off one by one. Just when you think it's enough, you get an easy boss fight and then a not-too-hard battle with The Big Guy Below, unless you chose the wrong weapon(and there's only one place to get the right one--a bit of an unfair trick!)

You have jump and fire buttons along with a four-way joystick in the game, and sometimes it's a bit tough to judge your jumps. I think the worst part of the controls may be that you often pick up a weapon you don't want as it is not easy to jump over a weapon that's appeared out of the blue. The most annoying lack of control is how you get bounced back on the first hit----you can lose your second chance just like that.

The graphics can be amusing but aren't terribly good. Besides your guy running around in red underwear after taking his first hit, there are the red demons that sit with legs crossed looking petulant until you hit them, after which they seem to enjoy the challenge a lot. The big brown guys are funny until they shoot something at you, and although the ravens will drive you crazy that may just be due to their general annoyance. The bosses are generally disappointing as just plain big dudes. There's a lot of variety but some of the best ideas seem to be used only once, while there's a lot of blah background filler in the meantime.

Parts of this game are absolutely infuriating. Solving them presents you with a huge sense of relief. Others are insanely easy once you know what to do. You'll be very grateful for the ''continue'' feature if you want to go on to solve the game. I found this to be the sort of game that you shut off after you win(I won it from 3-4 AM after a long ''jam session,'' which says something,) although once I did see if I could get through the first level on one life. I blasted the red demon in the middle, and the boss was no problem. I chickened out on level two, which for all its creativity is unfathomably annoying. But this game has something addictive. There's something about blasting legions of undead and running through caverns that is very addicting. And you'll have a legitimate sense of accomplishment from winning this game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/00, Updated 12/10/00