"The world needs a hero!... Has anyone seen Sir Daniel Fortesque?"

The world needs a hero!... Has anyone seen Sir Daniel Fortesque?

What a game- nothing short of wonderful. I'd of loved to give the game a perfect 10, but it is some what linear and short lived- you could probably beat the game in five or six hours. However, these are the only low points in the game and from here on end a'hm only talking about nothing but the good stuff! However: be forewarned, as I have not played the original for the Play Station One, so this may colour my review somehow. On with the mindless sillyness!

STORY 8/10

YOU are Sir Daniel Fortesque, disgraced warrior inaccurately remembered as the greatest hero of Gallowmere, freshly resurrected to combat the return of arch villain Zarock and ultimately redeem your fallen honour. Fanciful stuff lads, but from the heart.

Don't let the premise fool you- the game is surprisingly lighthearted for an undead protagonist fighting hordes of zombies/scarecrows/boiler guards/etc. The wacky, cartoony humour is probably the games highest selling point- kinda like Earthworm Jim meets Tim Burton. There are some very funny, laugh-out-loud parts in the game, ones that caught me off guard- I remember the looks I got at the bus station while trying to cover my mouth, and let me tell ya I'm not embarrassed one bit. The humour is probably made me keep on playing the game, just to see what would happen next.

SOUND 10/10

Man alive- I wish I could've given this game something like 100/10. The voice acting makes it worth the price of admission by itself. I know I'm not alone when I say that there's nothing worse than trying to play through a serious game with cheesey, badly acted out dialogue being spoken when a loved one enters the room and begins poking fun at the hero's plight. Not the case with MediEvil: Resurrection, oh no. REAL, professional actors were hired to do this dialogue. It was always a treat when I knew a cut scene was coming- my favorite character was probably the narrator, who also plays the Angel of Death. At the beginning of each level he would say something different about the level, (Gallowmere Planes- the opposite of Gallowmere Fetching!) or (Scarecrow Fields- prepare to be scared... if your a crow.) However; this absurdist humor isn't for everyone, and I'm probably making the game sound like it deserves an Oscar or something for comedy- its funny, but in a Saturday morning, silly kind of way- not THAT funny.

The sound is something else, as well. Every single track has been orchestrated... by an orchestra! Now thats impressive. The songs are catchy and bouncy and magical. Just wonderful.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Wow- you have to check out the FMV's in the game- good enough to be mistaken with PS2 graphics. As stated, the FMV's are one of the best parts of the game. The characters are all well rounded and not blocky at all and the environments are all beautifully coloured and designed while retaining its macabre theme. No complaints here- no slow downs or nothing. My only gripe comes from how the characters tend to get kind of blurry sometimes, in the cutscenes/FMV's/playing the game. This happens rarely, but enough to catch your eye.

GAMEPLAY 7/10

The game is a platformer- sort of an intelligent hack and slash fare. You can walk about using the analogue nub, whilst triangle is used for charging (running short bursts), square and x are used for the currently equiped weapon, and circle make you jump. Sir Dan can jump rather high, and by pushing left or right he can do a neat little sommersault. Triangle is rarely used- personally, I only found it helpful at the last level ;). The depth to the combat system is a tad shallow, but its there if you look for it. X is light a attack while square is a stronger, slower attack. By holding down these buttons you can charge up the weapon, doing much more damage than before, and there is a whole WEALTH of weapons to collect, each with its own simple and charged modes. Also, my mashing square and x, you can make Dan do some neat little combos (but your probably better off with the simple square attacks.) Dan has an assortment of melee and ranged weapons,
some upgrades of others, some incredibly helpful in their uniqueness, and some just plain weird. 'Nuff said!

In each level, if you slaughter every single enemy and collect the hidden chalice, then you may enter the Hall of Heroes- my favorite part of the game. This is kind of like Valhalla, a heaven made just for champions where the occupants tell you funny stories and then give you a new weapon. This can be considered as replay value, going back to find the very last enemy and find the chalice, but they're not that well hid, so often times you can do it all your first time through.

EXTRAS: 7/10

Apparently this game is drastically different from the original PS1 counterpart, as certain levels have been extended while others have been shortened. One thing almost everyone has mentioned is that this game has an inclusion of several minigames, which could kill some time had the player finished every single task there is, but fundamentally get kinda old after a while. I wasn't too big a fan, but some of my friends liked it, so you may to!

Another thing I havent tried yet are the online options- the game not only comes with wifi MediEvil minigames, but a playable demo of Wipeout Pure.

The last extra on the game disc is a system update to 1.52- if your one of those players (like me) who wished that they hadn't went and got the latest shareware (3.0) as they can no longer upload ROMS to their memory sticks, this feature may not be for you. However- if you don't care about old game boy colour games and the such and just want to surf the net with your PSP, get this game!

Anyway, in closing- I know I'm a little 'out-there,' so my tastes may vary drastically from yours. Be sure to rent whatever game your thinking of buying- but if you see this on a real bargain, then you ought to get it right away. 'Nuff said!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 03/29/06, Updated 08/06/07

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