Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins is a flashback to the classic side-scroller games
of yore. Oh the levels may look colorful, detailed, and 3D, but once you start
playing you’ll see that this game is definitely from video gaming’s Middle Ages.
We’re talking jumping, shooting, side-scrolling, rescue the princess gameplay
here. This in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing as these kinds of
games can be fun in their own right, but what really hurts Ultimate Ghosts 'n
Goblins is that it is one frustrating game.
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First of all the game is just plain difficult. Enemies come at you in all
directions but you can only throw your weapons left, right, or up and your
character moves with the grace of a hippo stuck in peanut butter. Making matters
worse it only takes a couple of hits to kill you. Jumps are difficult to align,
sometimes blind, and you can’t control your character at all once he’s in the
air. Don’t be surprised if you lose every last one of your lives trying to jump
the same gap. The game does try to give you some control over the level of
difficulty, but the three levels have a slight effect on the frenzy of enemy
attacks and where you are brought back to life after dying – the hardest
difficulty level will send you back to the beginning of the level each time you
die! However, the difficulty levels don’t give you any help in terms of control
or make the jumps any easier.
There are various power-ups to be had and you can gain the ability to cast
spells that make it easier for you to take out enemies. These do add a bit more
variety and some much needed help to the game, but none of them are powerful
enough or last long enough to give you more than a brief respite from your
frustrations.
Maybe the game was made so difficult to disguise the fact that it is actually
pretty short. You may not notice that there are only six levels in the game when
you get stuck playing the same one over and over again. Perhaps those gamers who
really enjoyed the old Ghosts ‘n Goblin games will relish an opportunity to
experience some nostalgia on their PSPs, but most gamers will quickly tire of
this frustrating blast from the blast.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
65%. Ultimately frustrating to all but the most devout fans of Ghosts
n’ Goblins games past.
