Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

"You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have....Maximo"

Let me put one thing out on the table right up front - I've been playing my rental copy of Maximo in almost all my free time for the last 3 days. Does that make it a good game? Well, it all depends on your definition of a good game. If nothing else, I'm going to try to be as fair and objective as possible in this review. I feel like in order to get the most objective review, the game must be broken down into a number of components, even more than the typical game:

Story
The Story of Maximo is quite simple ''Rescue the princess.'' To move the story along, there are numerous animated cgi movies. I found these cutscenes to be very well animated and actually quite funny. The only problem with the scenes is that they are not lip synched very well, but I thought the voices of the characters were silly, but still fairly well done.

Graphics
The actual game of Maximo looks great. The worlds are very distinctive and each has a very different graphical style. The worlds of this game reminded me of the reaction that I had when I first played Crash Bandicoot many years ago. A great deal of detail was put into this game and it is a joy to look at.

Sound
Once again, the sounds of Maximo are very well done. The sound effects are great, and the background music that dramatically plays while you are on your quest is catchy, even if it does sound a bit repetitive.

Gameplay and Problems
If I were to judge Maximo just on how it sounds and looks, I would give it almost a perfect 10. But after I had actually played the game for quite some time, some of the problems became very apparent.

Maximo can be a great deal of fun to play. There are numerous powerups that your character can earn, and there is also a wonderful balance between action and exploration. Although each of the levels is fairly short and totally linear, there are still numerous hidden chests, coins, and passages. Some of these objects are visible, but not easily obtainable. There is also the added challenge of getting 100% of everything on the level. This is not an easy task.

There are a couple of problems that took away a great deal of fun from Maximo:

- There are some camera problems because the camera attempts to remain fixed behind your character. One button on the controller re-centers the camera behind your character, well, most of the time, while another allows you to ''free look'', well, most of the time. The problem with this is that when you are next to a wall, the camera will not re-center, nor will it let you free look. For a next generation title, there is no reason not to allow the player to move the camera around with the righthand stick. This lack of camera control makes the game even more difficult than it already is.

- I had some trouble with jumps in this game. While you are in the air, it is very difficult to know where you are going to land. There are many, many places where if you miss a jump, you die. I'm not saying that the game shouldn't be difficult, but these deaths often feel cheap. There were a number of times when it was all I could do to not throw my controller through the TV.

- Lastly, the save system does not make the game very enjoyable. You can only save on the main ''over level'' of each world, and each time you save, it costs you 100 koins. This also makes the game frustratingly difficult because this game is one of the most difficult games I have played (much like the original ghosts and goblins). If you get caught in a hard level, there is no way to exit that level and go to another one. You are stuck trying to complete the level until you die.

Final Words
Don't get me wrong, I really liked this game (most of the time!). I think that many gamers will not be prepared for how difficult this game can be, but I think that this is what the industry needs. Many games nowadays are too easy and coddle the player too much. Maximo breaks the ''easy'' game mold (think Jak and Dakster) and provides a truly challenging game experience that will keep you playing again and again, and again. With just a few minor changes, this game would have been excellent, but it is still a great game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/24/02, Updated 01/24/02