MediEvil

Description

Product descriptionA Gothic Tale Straight from the Grave, Challange the Powers of Darkness and untold Magic....Amazon.comOne hundred years ago, in the land of Gallowmere, an evil wizard was defeated by the honest citizens of the land. You are a knight that died in the first unsuccessful charge against the wizard's army, but the king, in need of a way to inspire his embattled people, gave you both a hero's burial and the credit for victory. Now the wizard has returned from the dead with a mind for vengeance, and you've been brought back from the dead to stop him. Perhaps the world'sleast worthy hero, you set out to save the land once again--for the first time. The animation and humor are reminiscent of Tim Burton'sThe Nightmare Before Christmas. If this alone isn't enough to thrill you, the difficulty level will. This is one of the few games that seems to keep itself near the perfect level--difficult enough to keep you interested, easy enough to keep you from getting frustrated. The perspective perfectly complements the gameplay and animation style: the 3-D follow-cam allows you, in most places, to look around with ease. And you'll want to take time to see the sights, since the game looks as good as it plays. This game isn't just for the hard-core gamer. It's for everyone. --John Cocking Pros: Cartoon zombiesGentle learning curveGoofy good looksCons:Killing zombies can get monotonousAddictiveReviewSony's MediEvil takes place in a fictional Gallowmere, relaying the legend of a one Sir Daniel Fortesque. At one time, Sir Dan was Gallowmere's most esteemed knight, until he died fending off the evil sorcerer Zarok's battalion. As the fable goes, Sir Dan's demise wasn't of the heroic proportions of, say, William Wallace, but the king put on the big spin (for national security) and documented history as such. Well, Zarok didn't die back then, and now his magic brings Dan back accidentally, and incidentally, around the time that Zarok feels his new army of evil dead and plug-uglies is prepared to go at it once again. So, as Sir Dan, you're given a second chance to save the land, if you can live up to your own weighty reputation.The game may appear like something of a 3D version of Ghosts 'n' Goblins (with touches of Tim Burton's film, The Nightmare Before Christmas); however, the gameplay is very different. There are similarities to Capcom's title, since you must wade through a horde of creatures using an arsenal of found or earned weapons (such as a magic sword, a bow that shoots flaming arrows, and a throwing ax), but there's more at work than just hacking and slashing. Each level has unique puzzles that differ from stage to stage, giving a nice degree of variety to the title. Also, once a certain number of enemies is dispatched, you can gather up a chalice that gives you access to the Hall of Heroes, a place where heroic ghosts dole out special weapons or items with each visit, usually accompanied by a verbal dressing down at your unworthy status as the champion of a Gallowmere. While MediEvil may have an original look, its visuals aren't perfect. Pop-up occurs from time to time, there's a rare bit of bad collision detection, and the camera can be a bit wonky also. You can shift the perspective left and right by using the L2 and R2 buttons, but when you start moving again, the intelligent camera can sometimes get ideas of its own and shift back the way it was. Luckily, this only occurs in the levels that contain wider open areas, and not in the later levels that see the character walking across thin bridges, where tight camera control is an absolute necessity. Still, a single button control enabling a follow-cam (as seen in Rare's Banjo-Kazooie) would be welcome. The real stars of MediEvil though are its variety, story, and difficulty level. As mentioned before, the diversity found from level to level adds a lot to the game, as does the wide and varied arsenal of weapons. The storyline is also strang