"An enthralling adventure with knights, skeletons, and . . . tea?"

The heavy doors open and invite our hero into the lair of pure evil. White flames are seen on the sides to give light to the room. Walking cautiously, our hero traverses through the hall only to encounter Arabian guards with huge scimitars and a duty to slay all those that invade the lair of their boss. One guard shoots off his crossbow, but our hero takes out his blade and bats down the arrow before rushing in for the kill. Another guard charges forward with his scimitar extended, but the protagonist's trusty trained falcon darts forward and shoves its razor-sharp beak into the side of the grumpy goon. Filled with sharp pains and frustration, the guard turns his back to our hero to deal with the bird. This is a mistake. In a few seconds he's stabbed in the back. The silent swordsman grabs hold of a throwing dagger dropped on the ground before calling for his falcon.

This is 8 Eyes. Doesn't sound like a Castlevania clone, does it?

By first glance, you can see where those naysayers are coming from. 8 Eyes does remarkably resemble Castlevania II quite a bit. Our manly hero, Orin, even looks like Simon Belmont right down to the red-jumpsuit abomination and unhealthy pallid skin. But I'd at least hope one would notice Orin's weapon of choice. Rather than toting a chain whip, our hero wields a short sword for fast-paced poking action. And this sword combat really diverts the game from the path of ripping off Konami.

Guiding Orin to successful kills requires great skill and precision with the game's smooth and tight controls. For example you'll encounter Spanish swordsmen early on that unsheathe their long blades and slash a good two inches in front of them. Running straight into the goons would result in our boy Orin being chopped up quickly. What you'll need to do is thrust your blade forward right after these Spaniards sheath their blades and then retreat out of your enemy's range of attack with as much speed as possible before then going back in for the kill. This may sound a bit awkward on paper, but anyone should get the hang of it in no time. And besides, doesn't that sound a lot more skill-based and valiant than daintily thwacking skeletons with a whip?

Most of the game's enemies will require this hit and run tactic, but there are the occasion different ones as well. Projectile type foes like the knife throwers, archers, and fire-breathing skeleton beasts require quick reflexes as you chop up their attacks and save your skin. Other monsters include gigantic bats that fly down from the ceiling or tiny ghosts, bees, and bats that litter the screen and require hurdling over them as well as swordplay.

But even so, Orin's fencing techniques aren't the most head-turning combat maneuvers. Our hero's trained falcon, Cutrus, can be launched into the air at any time and then swoop down for the kill at your command. This little bird comes in handy quite a bit of the game. In fact, some foes will only be hurt by Cutrus and others become a piece of cake with his feathered assistance. Unfortunately Orin isn't the best trainer around, and you'll notice that Cutrus is a stubborn bird. After releasing your falcon with a simple up + B command, Cutrus flaps his wings about one inch above Orin's head and flies from one end of the room to the other. He just keeps doing this until you call him back with the same button combination used to release him. The problem is that Cutrus' tendency to just fly back and forth is unacceptable during the more intense moments of combat. You can't have your bird flying off in the opposite direction of a muscley-armed Arabian Knight! Otherwise Orin may be minus an arm real soon.

But that's only if you're stuck by yourself, hapless gamer. Those fortunate enough to have friends that still enjoy a good old-fashioned NES butt-kicking can have an actual human take control of your faithful falcon therefore eliminating any problems I've just mentioned.

Whether you're playing alone or with a friend, Orin is stuck with his bird no matter what. Throughout the game's eight huge levels, Orin will have to take command of Cutrus for more than attacking his enemies. Being horribly sly fiends, each stage boss has locked many of the doors in his castle, dungeon, or ruins and placed the switched out of reach of our hero. How convenient that you just so happened to have trained a falcon! Having Cutrus hit these switches can be a tad annoying in single-player because he'll always stay at that height one inch above Orin's head upon the time of release. Thus the trickier switches will require you to find the correct place for Orin to stand (for instance halfway up a flight of stairs), which easily becomes a frustration if you're also trying to avoid blood-sucking bats or full-armored knights.

However fate smiles upon our noble protagonist. Those stupid bosses hid many cool items with abilities ranging from regenerating health to doubling your attack power throughout their dungeons. The foolish part was cramming the items right behind bricks so decrepit that the swing of a sword or the peck of a falcon echoes a loud BING while the stone turns white. A second hit will reveal said item therefore greatly aiding the bosses' impending doom. This concept of hidden power-ups behind smashable walls is nothing new, but 8 Eyes takes it a step further by making the items both plentiful and a necessity. Furthermore, locating the crumbling bricks is a synch thanks to Cutrus' giant swoop range.

You'll certainly feel like a real valiant hero on the path through each of the game's stages. Upon entering the dungeon or castle, you'll see impressive slabs of stone blocks, thin columns, immense statues, and tons of torches and other pillars of flame left to illuminate the dank, old structures. Each stage's look emulates a style generally stereotyped with a real geographic location. For example the Germany level sports a maze-like castle complete with fierce knights and spooky paintings. The Arabia stage features dome-shaped buildings and scimitar wielding guards, while the Africa level is a primitive looking structure littered with animal bones. Traveling to Italy brings you to a grand emerald castle with artsy statues decorating the enemy filled halls. Each area even has its own unique music; however the quality of each track is horribly inconsistent. The Arabia stage showcases a wonderful and fairly lengthy tune composed with many excellent NES instruments. Then on the other hand of the spectrum, Germany assaults your ears with a short, annoying melody that loops for what seems like an eternity (being the longest stage in the game doesn't help either). The rest of the game's music is decent and at times catchy.

After you've hit the switches, fought your foes, found the power-ups, saw the sights, and endured the music, you'll finally come face to face with a stage's boss encounter. This is where the game's sub-weapon system finally comes in handy. Essentially it's the same deal as Castlevania: get a weapon, pick up items to use weapon (little white crosses in this case), press up + A to use weapon. There are some differences here however. One excellent idea is that Orin never loses his previous sub-weapon when he obtains a new one, but instead he'll have an entire arsenal to cycle through. Unfortunately all but one of the weapons is completely worthless. The boomerang, the pistol and all the rest are a waste of your item power. Orin and Cutrus are more than enough to dispatch all of the enemies in each level, and these sub-weapons are just tinker toys in the face of a boss except for the mighty Ice Ball. Throw this baby at anything and it will freeze momentarily. Needless to say, an unmoving boss is something that will come in handy, but it would have been nicer had each sub-weapon been more useful throughout the entire game rather than simply grabbing one of them and holding on to all your item power for the boss.

Even with your fancy skills, a falcon, and your balls of ice, you may find yourself continually getting thrashed by each boss. That's because Taxan took a page from Capcom's Mega Man. You'll notice that you have the ability to choose from seven stages right from the start, and this is because there is a preferred order to taking on each stage boss. Every time you finish off a level, Orin is rewarded with a sword that deals two times the damage to one of the other bosses. For example after toppling the tall, mustached swordsman from Spain, your sword is stronger against the wily magic user from Egypt, and from there you'll have a blade that the villainous card shark from Italy cowers in fear over. With these more powerful blades, you should make mincemeat out of the game's toughest opponents. Better yet, immediately after beating a boss you're presented a short yet hilariously inappropriate scene of Orin and the stage boss sitting down to tea served by a skeleton. Now if that's not enough to force you to hunt down this gem, then I don't know what will.

And when it's said and done and you've finished off the final boss, 8 Eyes throws a cute, little twist right at the end that will require thorough exploration as well as adequate problem solving.

The life a swordsman and his falcon is one of danger and challenge, but also fun and satisfaction. 8 Eyes does borrow a bit here and there, but the execution of the hidden power-ups and clever idea of Cutrus are too cool to brand this a shameless copycat. While the sub-weapon system and controlling the falcon in single-player could have been more fined tuned, this is definitely one title to look into. Besides, 8 Eyes even teaches you an important life lesson.

What's the lesson to be learned, kiddies? Giving someone tea is a suitable apology for trying to bludgeon them to death with a sword.

8.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/04