Blackthorne

" It's just as good as Super Castlevania and Mega Man X ."

Blackthorne is the kind of 2-D game that I wish more people would try. With simple controls, amazing graphics, and innovative gameplay, it's single-player experience is only rivaled by the Mega Man and Castlevania games on the SNES. Plus, you can probably find a used copy of it that'll
cost you five bucks. Well, that's how much I bought it for, and that is an unbeatable bargain, so after you read this, go out and find this game. It's worth every penny.

GRAPHICS: 10
There is nothing wrong here. The way every enemy and characters look when they move looks very nice, especially when they get shot. Oh, and near the end, you'll wet your wet pants, so play this game all the way to the end to get a real treat.

SOUND/AUDIO: 10
The developers must've worked hard in this area, because the sound effects are PERFECT. As you shoot enemies or prisoners,(please don't shoot the innocent ones, you silly monkey!) you'll hilarious groans coming from them as they die. Not only do the sound effects kick butt, the musical score sounds great, and not boring or repetitive. In fact, lately, I've be humming some of them as I walk around the house. I thought I'd remember tunes from Mega Man and Castlevania, but these are good enough to make me forget them. They're that good.

CHALLENGE: 10
This is where the game shines, and it might be why I love it so much. The difficulty is frustratingly good. Sure, you might yell like you do when making a mistake in the old Castlevania games, but like the Castlevania and Mega Man series, the enemies, powerups, and gaps are placed in the clever spots in order to set up cool action sequences, which will make you feel like an unstoppable hero. THE LEVELS ARE JUST AS FUN AND SATISFYING TO BEAT AS THE CASTLEVANIA AND MEGA MAN GAMES.

OVERALL(fun factor): 10
What else can I say? This game rocks. In my opinion, Blackthorne should be ranked among, or recieve scores as high as top adventures games such as Mario, Mega Man X, Earthworm Jim, and Castlevania. The graphics, sound, and challenge in this game all come together to give any gamer one of the most amazing 2-D games out there. If you want something different from traditional 2-D platformers, like the ones I just listed a couple sentences back, GO AND PLAY BLACKTHORNE! It's so darn fun!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/08/02, Updated 07/08/02