Demon's Crest

"Demon's Crest, reviewed w/my consistent system!"

(you might want to read the last part of the review 1st, because I explain how my review and ratings system works in that section. That section is clearly marked w/a ''*'')

Graphics: 7
Some nice backgrounds, fine variety of enemies, good animation.

Story: 6.7
Like the prequels, w/you being a demon, but now you have a story that is more detailed in the opening. The in game story is less, though, because you no longer have towns to go to (one area is a sort of a town, but that's it). You do get something rather impressive: Multiple endings. And each ending is rather interesting and the story part is quite different from one to another. Email me if you want more details (I'm not putting spoilers in here). And of course the uniqueness of being the demon in the demon world helps the story out as well.

Music: 6.5 (music range 5.5-6.7)

Fairly good, an much of it uses the organ effectively. The stereo in the music is average, which is fine. I wish there were some that were recording worthy, but overall the soundtrack worked well w/the adventure.

Play Control: 7.8

Better than GQ and worse than Castlevania Symphony of the Night (Nocturne in Moonlight). You can do all the standard stuff like walk, jump, etc. But in addition to these, it is possible to become a flying gargoyle that can even fly up. There's swimming, too. Many different types of gargoyles available to use w/different characteristics. I wonder if this inspired CSOTN to have Alucard change into different forms.

Lasting Interest: 6.2

It was good, but not long enough. Took me maybe 10 hrs. I got all the endings and only needed help to find one item, which was behind a wall that had no clue to let me know that I could walk through it. And in getting the best ending, you can restart by selecting continue and you'll have amazing power! And they kindly placed a new super boss to fight after getting that amazing power, and you realize that there's yet another ending. Very cool, but still the total time spent enjoying this wasn't nearly as long as I had hoped.

Overall: 6.84

Other categories not included in the overall score:

Sound Effects: 5
Average, ok stuff.

Originality: 8

Challenge: 5
Average in this dept.

*I review a game based on what I see at the time I rate it. If it was on the NES and the graphics pleased my eye, it gets a high rating. 10 would be stuff that I want to stare at for a very long time for its artistic qualities alone. 1 would be completely w/o interest and maybe even sickening to view. I do not rate anything based on what the system can do because I want people to be able to know what the graphics, sound, game play, etc. were like compared to all available (only exception is my originality rating, which doesn't get included in the overall score). So, if I give an overall rating of a 7 for something on the NES and a 6 for something on the PS2, then that is saying that compared to all that I have experienced, the 7 on the NES means that one might enjoy (if they agree w/what I say in my review) the 7 NES game better than the 6 PS2 game. I reviewed every criterion like this. It is my belief that a ratings system like mine is no more objective or subjective than any other, but it takes on a slant that can allow the game to be seen compared with everything out there, which I prefer.
Also consider a classic like Zelda. It is good, and many people agree that it is still good, but it is not as good as Zelda 3 (per most people who do both now, w/o having done the original long ago, which creates a special kind of bias). Despite this, it has many people rating it higher than many rate the Zelda 3, or many ties (should they really both be a ''10''?). W/my revolutionary ratings system, people can look at what I have reviewed and see how likely they are to like it based on what exists at the time it is reviewed. So, if a person has Super Mario World, and wants to try others because they loved the graphics, then they should know this reviewer's evaluation of the graphics in Super Mario Brothers 3 to see if they pleased my eye as much as SMW (assuming I rated both of them, but if I hadn't then they can still see if the one I rated impressed me based on the criteria I gave). Maybe the graphics didn't impress me in SMB3, and if so I person should know that based on today's selection of games, and the big reason is: When choosing what to do w/our gaming time, we do have a choice among many systems from 3 decades w/many games on each system; we should be able to see a review and then decide what we'd like to do among all of our options.
Today I see an RPG like Lufia 2 to be one of the best ever, which includes some of the greats that have emerged on the latest systems. By reading my review on something old, a person can see how the game stacks up to everything else and this I hope will be helpful to people.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/02, Updated 08/18/02