Ultimate Ghost 'N Goblins
by Capcom
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Video Game Reviews of Ultimate Ghost 'N Goblins
Customer Review: Nostaligic GnG Reborn
Summary: 5 Stars
My video gaming began in 1986 on the NES. The first game we bought was Ghosts 'n Goblins (GnG). Back in those days, false advertising on NES game boxes often occurred in the form of arcade screenshots; GnG was no exception, but I was nevertheless very impressed with the game and have ever since maintained a fondness for the various 2D incarnations of the original (the recent 3D installments don't count!).
So I cannot help but to be biased in rating UGnG. For anyone wishing that quality 2D platformers would make a comeback, this game at least offers a glimpse of what can be done on modern hardware. The graphics and sound are both gorgeous and highly reminiscent of SGnG on the SNES. The difficulty is slightly frustrating, requiring suicidal jumps just to scope out a new area and multiple replays until the levels have, to a large extent, been memorized, but this is right on par for the series - certainly no more difficult than SGnG, for instance. I reached the "end" fairly quickly, but was then met with the series' infamous 2nd playthrough, this time with a new twist, requiring a thorough scouring of sections inadvertently glossed over during the initial pass.
If you have enjoyed any of the GnG games in the past, then acquistition of this latest installment is simply imperative. On the other hand, if you've never played a GnG game before, are curious as to what quality 2D gaming has to offer, and have a penchant for unfair challenge, repetition, and trials of patience, in other words - old school gaming, then UGnG should not disappoint. Although games like this are now few and far between, should they sell well, perhaps game designers will resurrect this noble line.
Customer Review: Frustrating and difficult
Summary: 3 Stars
I'll reiterate what the other reviewers have said-this is a challenging game and I'm a Ghosts and Goblins veteran. I played the arcade game and beat it. I owned the Sega Genesis version called Ghosts and Ghouls, and I owned the Gameboy Advance version as well. Even on novice setting, this game is hard. There is a lot of trial and error caused by blind jumps and it seems at times there is no way to get through a section without taking a hit. The game is also short and as mentioned by the others, you have to collect gold rings to get to the final battle. So you get sent back to the beginning and keep playing until you collect 22 rings-gets old real fast. The game is similar enough to the original to satisfy the purists, but they've added a lot of magic and other junk to complicate the game. The game has good graphics and sound, but if there's more than 4 or 5 moving things on the screen the framerate stutters. I eagerly awaited this game and was the primary reason I got a PSP, but I am disappointed with it. It is probably the last time I will ever play a Ghosts and Goblins game.Customer Review: Not the "Ultimate" Nostalgia
Summary: 3 Stars
Lately CAPCOM has just been throwing classics onto the PSP. Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins, while being a new game, is very reminiscent of the former Ghosts n Goblins games on your NES and SNES. Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins isn't nearly as hard as its older brothers, but in the process, there are some elements it refused to change that perhaps it should've.
There's no plot to Ultimate Ghost n Goblins. All you're doing is trumping through all these levels to save the princess. This isn't a bad thing, though. The game is supposed to have a fairly generic story. It's old school.
The game does manage to look beautiful. While it maintains being a 2D side-scroller, it's set up in a 3D world. The backgrounds, and your hero, Arthur, look dazzling. Watching many of these enemies in action is also a fantastic treat. Simply put, for a side scroller, games don't get any better looking than this. Good graphics, however, can't always save the short comings of gameplay.
Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins plays out exactly like it did twenty years ago. You'll start off with nothing but a suit of armor and an endless supply of lances. The game ramps up the difficulty right on the first level. Luckily there are difficulty levels to compensate. There's the novice, standard and ultimate mode. Anyone who mastered Ghost n Goblins and Super Ghosts n Goblins would do well to start on Ultimate, but newcomers will find novice to be to their liking. The enemies are slow on novice, there are checkpoints throughout the levels and you won't get torn up nearly as fast. In Ultimate, however, it's just the opposite. Your enemies move at lightning speed and there are no checkpoints.
You'll play through each of these beautiful levels until you find the boss at the end. As you play through these levels you'll be reduced to doing nothing but jumping outside of chucking lances at your enemies. The game is measured in taking two hits at first. The first time you get hit you'll lose your armor and be reduced to boxers. The second hit kills you. Eventually you'll find armor that ups the ante to three hits. Aside from that you'll also find boots that'll make you double jump--and you'll become very reliant on that really fast. There are also an assortment of weapons for you to use. Boomerangs, Torches and a couple of others. The new stuff presented is rather nice, but there are some old things in the game that really should've been done away with after the SNES days.
For one, the game is basically nothing but you jumping from one platform to the next. It wouldn't be quite so bad if a lot of these jumps weren't blind. In other words, you'll go through a lot of trial and error moments throughout the game. Also, you can't change which direction you go when you jump. You never could in Ghost n Goblins, but it's about time they let you. If you find yourself jumping to a platform you can't reach, you can't change direction, and so you'll have to die. At least with the double jump you can pull a 180. The game isn't really difficult so much as it is frustrating.
The game also throws in a quest that consist of you finding hidden gold rings. You're not given any ounce of hint that this quest even exist until the end of the game, though, and that's rather disappointing. It means you'll have to play through the other levels all over again to find them. I wouldn't mind this if the game weren't so frustrating. In the end the hidden gold rings are really worth it, seeing as how I didn't feel like dying over and over again. The game isn't very long, either. It'll take you maybe two hours to complete. Probably no more than three at the most.
There are plenty of good tunes, though. Most of which are pulled from previous installments. But they sound better than ever before, and it's a great way to get some nostalgia going. Some "good" nostalgia, anyway.
Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins is a nice trip down memory lane, but there really were some mechanics that should've been a lot better worked out. The game isn't really difficult, it's just frustrating in many areas. I normally love old school games, but many other games that are old school tend to at least work on the mechanics that made it frustrating. Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins doesn't do that.
The Good
+Good nostalgia
+The game looks fantastic
+It sounds fantastic
+There's challenge to be had
The Bad
-More frustrating than difficult
-Some old school mechanics, like the jumping, should've been worked out
-Not enough levels
-The side quest for the hidden gold rings is thrown in right at the very end of the game... and getting there was VERY frustrating... it makes me not want to do it.
Customer Review: Jump Arthur, Jump.
Summary: 3 Stars
In the 1980s, when human minds are less sophisticated, many video game concepts were centred on the theme of "rescuing the princess, saving the world". Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins utilizes the same concept, and it's hardly surprisingly - it's a modern take on the original Ghost `n Goblins from 1986. In this 21st century rendition of this classic game, Knight Arthur returns (with his armor and, ahem, underwear) to save Princess Prin from the undead, again. To make the adventure more up-to-date, however, Capcom have added several new features to it. These include the introduction of 3D graphics, and new in-game tools and techniques that allow Arthur to defeat the enemies that stand in his way.
Apart from his usual repertoire of skills, Arthur has a number of new moves up his sleeves. One of them is the ability to dash, executed when you double tap left or right quickly. This is helpful when you need to clear an area fast, but it usually ends up badly due to the large number of enemies that appear on screen. Arthur also has the aptitude to grab, which makes platforming a little easier, since he can now hang on the edge of a platform without falling to his death after a missed jump. Shields are also introduced into the gameplay, which allow Arthur to repel attacks by simply pressing the down button on the D-Pad.
Despite the new abilities, however, Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins remains insanely challenging even when played on the easiest of its three difficulty levels. To put it simply, the game is hard. Enemies will attack you in quick succession. They will also re-spawn regularly, leaving you with hardly any room to breathe. Even the platforming is tricky, and it regularly requires you to take a leap of faith, which tends to result in a fall to death. Don't be surprised if you find yourself doing a level over and over again until you get it right. This isn't necessary a bad thing, but it may discourage the less patient gamers.
To make life a little better, the game throws in some much needed aid. During the game, you'll find treasure chests, which usually house weapons and magical skills. As expected, different weapons produce different effects and range. For example, the lance (a default weapon) attacks reasonably quickly, but flies only in a straight line. The Boomerang Scythe (a new addition, by the way), on the other hand, flies a little slower, but has the ability to return to Arthur, thus clearing enemies that are closing in. Magical skills are more sophisticated to use, as they require Arthur to be equipped with armor, as well as to have enough MP. They're, however, much more powerful in dealing with the undead. The Time Magic, for example, slows time for everyone except Arthur. The Invincible Magic wraps a force field around Arthur, rendering any enemy's attacks on him useless for a limited period. These abilities only reduce the difficulty level slightly though, since you won't be getting powered-up all the time. You'll still have to be on your toes regularly to deal with the game's deliberately high demands.
The high level of difficultly wouldn't be the only challenge you'd face when playing Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins. Unlike many other games, the game actually forces you to be a completist. Throughout the game, you may encounter some hard-to-find golden rings. You may think that the collection of these rings is an optional side quest (think the Mario Bros.'s gold coins) that won't impact the grand scheme of things. Well, you couldn't be more wrong. The locations of these rings are usually fairly well hidden, and you'd probably not notice them when you're just running for your life in most of the levels. You can run for all you want though, but when you reach the end of 5th level, you'll find that you won't be able to proceed to the game's final level without a prerequisite number of golden rings. This is where the warp portals come in - they'll allow you to return to earlier levels to relive the nightmare. This time, however, the nightmare will be scarier, because apart from running for your life, you'll have to hunt for those damn rings as well. But wait, it's not over yet. Collecting a different required number of rings will also unlock different endings (three in all) for the game. Again, this could be a welcomed challenge for the more daring, but an absolute whammy for the uninitiated.
Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins is essentially still a 2D platformer, but the 3D elements add depth to the already nice graphics. They may look less polished when compared to the more flashy presentations on other PSP games, but the unique art style and level of details still look great nonetheless, even by today's standards. The soundtrack, though remixed, also brings back some fond (and some not so fond) memories of myself huffing and puffing through a level of Makaimura (the Japanese version of the original Ghosts n' Goblins) back in those days. The sound effects, however, are a little weak, and could do with a little more variety. Not that I really mind though, because the music is good enough to keep me contented. The game also comes with in an old-school D-pad (attachable to the PSP's analog button) for those who wants to relive the experience of playing the game on the NES controller. This is a really nice touch that adds some nostalgic value to the overall package.
In conclusion, Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins may or may not be your cup of tea, depending on whether you're in for a challenge. Some aspects of it are frustrating, and it's certainly not an easy one to complete. But in an era when games are perhaps giving too much leeway to the gamer, it's a game like this that really dishes out a nice challenge to those who're in need of one. Ultimate Ghosts `n Goblins is a testament of how solid, challenging gameplay is all about, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's yearning for a good title on the PSP.