"I like difficult games, but...."

Note: I'm going to refer to Castlevania throughout this review, so if you haven't played the first NES adventure of the Belmont clan I suggest going for that instead. In fact, don't even bother with 8-Eyes until you've beaten that one, cuz if you can't beat C-vania, you don't stand A CHANCE at this game.

8-Eyes has taken a bad wrap for being a Castlevania clone. Some of it is deserved, some not so. I think many just get angry because they can't get past the third or fourth room of the first level, and blame it on bad control. However, as any Castlevania fan would know, the controls are spot on. The problem is a *little* bit trickier than that.

Let's start off by looking at the good points. The graphics are decent. I don't like the hunchback main character, but eh, whaddyagonnado? The enemies/monsters are all pretty well animated, the backgrounds....are flat, but hey, this is NES we're talking 'bout. As previously mentioned, the controls are as solid as any Castlevania game on the NES. The music is really well done, I caught myself humming tunes to it throughout the day. And depending on what kind of gamer you are, the uber-high difficulty may be a plus. Oh yes, and you have a bird you can sic on enemies. But you gotta be careful, he can take damage too.

Now the bad stuff. Like I just said, the difficulty may or may not be a good thing depending on your taste. To give you an example of just how difficult the game is....imagine if the first level of the original Castlevania had no whip powerups, no candles to bust open, really strong enemies with an attack reach better than your leather whip, and nonstop Medusa Heads flying through the screen. Yeah, that's how ridiculously hard this game is. Your character uses a pocketknife to fight off skeletons with a huge scimitar. And he stabs with it kinda slow, not lightning fast like Belmont's whip.

This game isn't really bad, but the play balance is so off kilter it ain't funny. You almost might want to consider playing it on emulator to take advantage of save states. But that's the wussy way to go.

Bottom Line? If you're good, and I mean GOOD at platformers, this is a great game. Otherwise you might want to skip this one.

Fun: 8
Graphics: 7
Sound: 8
Replay: 8

Annoyance: Getting spanked by an NES game, making me feel like a beginner all over again.
Great Moment: Finally beating a level. Man, that's what it's all about, working and working until you have the skillz to beat the latest challenge to your integrity as a gamer.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/02, Updated 01/22/02