Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

"Only so - so game that hopes you've heard of it's predecessor. Definitely rent first."

Anyone over the age of 17 may have heard of and even played the original Ghost N Goblins. And with all the ''classics'' being redone for the Playstation 1 & 2 I begged for anyone to pick this title up. Well, they did, and for some reason the game had me wishing for my old Nintendo so I can see why I like the game in the first place.

Sound 5/10 - The sound effects are pretty cool. If an item or an coin falls in the water you actually hear the water splash. But other than environmental changes, it is nothing that is going to changed gaming.

Music 3/10 - Thank you for including a soundtrack but like in most games...I didn't notice. If by some freak accident the music didn't work, don't worry, your not missing anything.

Graphics 5/10 - Unless you try on the PS2 really, really hard, you cannot really get any bad graphics. The graphics seemed to fit the levels but with the exception of changing the outfit depending on what energy you have there is nothing here that ties it to the original game.

Controls 3/10 - My question remains to any game company that release controls like this...didn't you play the game before release it? I mean they put a reverse camera angle in but you'll never use it when you need to because it's too unresponsive. They put in a free look camera in but you'll never use it because you have to stop in order to use it and it is limited where that would be. The amount of moves you can pull of with the sword is limited because it changes when you changes directions. And the jumping, or should I say leaps of faith, are not correctly timed and with a perfectly pressed button can still miss the target.

Gameplay 4/10 - If this is a great platform game the sign me up for the next golf series because I have played better. First the game does not offer any tutorials so you go in dry and undirected which is not a good combination. The is no map feature, which means good luck finding your goals. There is a lack of versatile enemies and the re-spawn is turn on. Which means whenever you start, restart or continue from a checkpoint the same boring creatures you have to deal with. No mater what you do your going to get hit and your damaged received is much worse than damage given. This is particularly true when fighting multiple enemies. 3 skeletons will severely reduce your limited amount of energy if not kill you. And the save game system is horrid. First they charge you 100 coins to save and that takes about 20 minutes alone to do, then you can only save in one place and that's all that is saved. Your health, weapons or current position is forsaken.

Best Feature - In the original game the more energy you lost the more armor came off of your body until you were in your underwear. The kept this feature and I love it.

Worst Feature - Repetitive, uninspired game play.

In short, platform games such as this should be a quick in, quick out type where you can play for a little while feel entertained and quit at you leisure. With this game you have to slug it out until it tells you to stop. If it wan't for the hype from the old Ghost N Goblins no one would even care about this title. The original was much more fun to play and this new version only beats it in the graphic department. Rent this one first.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/02, Updated 01/27/02