A Castlevania clone...? I don't think so!
There's not much told in the game about the story, but the instruction manual tells the tale well enough, though I still have a hard time believing this to be the long passed aftermath of nuclear devastation. Anyway, some Great King in this distant future was able to harness the power of 8 magical jewels to rebuild the world, to make it once again a better place for you and me. These jewels were found at the centers of the 8 nuclear explosion points around the world that nearly destroyed it so many hundreds of years ago, so I guess somehow that's where their power came from. Problem is, is that this Great King's 8 dukes have taken into their possession each of the 8 Eyes (this is what those collection of jewels are called), each wanting to use these powerful jewels for themselves, they banish the Great King to the nuclear wastelands, and from this point the world supposedly falls into chaos and anarchy again. I guess with each of the Eyes, their owner would have the power to rule the world, and its your job (when is it not?) to stop their corrupt plans, return the 8 Eyes to the Altar of Peace, so that once again this Great King can finish in rebuilding the world. Okay, sounds good to me. By the way, love the artwork for the 8 dukes in the manual, and their descriptions, gives 'em character, makes them more believable as well, as a result I took a liking to all of them.
The graphics have a similar look to Castlevania, very detailed, though not as dark and gothic, perhaps a bit cleaner, yet not as much depth, as backgrounds for the most part are very flat looking, but have some animation, such as flames from torches. All of the character sprites look really good too, quite detailed and varied. Character animation is also pretty good, even enemies have more than the usual number of frames reserved for such minor foes, certainly twice that of the NES Castlevania games. Heck, bosses have between 5 to 10 different frames of animation, depending on what they do, the dukes of Spain and Arabia both having several different sword slashing techniques, as well as the Arabian guy throwing knives at you, and they're rather big too, imposing giants to your hero.
Music is very catchy, fits the theme and mood of a given stage perfectly. Nearly all of the tunes have a mellow kind of melody, nothing frantic or energetic sounding, nor grand or hard-pumping, but all of it suits the game well, each piece making you feel at home within the location of which each castle is said to be located in the world.
Before going into detail on the stages, firstly you should know that you can take them on in any order you like, minus the final stage, the House of Ruth. The stage select screen is much like that of the Megaman series, Power Blade, Whomp'em, and Shatterhand, as well as others that allow you to select your stage conquering order. There are 7 stages initially selectable: Spain, Egypt, Italy, India, Africa, Germany, and Arabia, and once you have defeated their masters, the 8th and final stage, The House of Ruth will be selectable.
Though at first glance the stages may seem like those of Castlevania, they are a bit more involving, mastering the use of your ally falcon is a must and just as much a part of the gameplay as the sword-wielding hero you control. There may be levers out of reach that only the bird can reach, as well as some enemies that only its talons can defeat. Some stages are linear in design, others will have you running in circles trying to find the way to the boss, they are mazes consisting of doors, all of which will open only when you hit a lever, as well as pits and staircases, having to take or fall down the right one to advance along the correct route. Another thing about the stages, there are no bottomless pits in this game, so no need to fear falling down a pit, except possible time wasted in backtracking, if having had taken the wrong turn. And be it a palace in India, fortress in Africa, a Spanish castle, Italian manor, whatever be the stronghold, the outside of them reminds me of the mansion entrances in Simon's Quest, but unlike in that game, the entrance doors in this game are not open to tourists. All doors in this game are in the background, seen from face-on, opposed to those in Castlevania where the doors are from sideview as if seeing their edge through a cut-out of the wall, and all must be opened by way of a lever somewhere close by.
Within each stage are hidden clues which you can find by breaking certain blocks with your sword or your falcon's talons, these clues will aid you in determining the correct order in which to place each of the 8 Eyes on the altar at the end of the game, only then will you truly win. Getting to the end without finding at least half of these clues could result in many frustratingly, possibly futile attempts at solving it, and certainly after all the effort to reach the end, failing right then and there when so close would be, well...that'd totally suck.
To me, one of the biggest similarity between this game and Simon's Quest is, well...can we say Simon - black hair, red clothes, and white boots - though Orin doesn't look as cool (he's actually kinda pasty-looking in the face, Simon'd probably mistaken him as a vampire), but his falcon friend, Cutrus adds to his coolness, whereas he'd be lacking this if it weren't for his bird. But even though he doesn't really look so cool in game, the art representing him on the cart does, so, just as is the case of most NES heroes, granted they don't appear to look drastically different from cover art to game sprites, I've always imaged him looking just as he does on the packaging art, which I've also done with pretty much every game I've enjoyed or otherwise, from this, to Castlevania, to Deadly Towers, ect.
The hero, Orin, is obviously a falconer, he's also a master fencer, seeing his attack methods - stab, stab, and stab some more. But his dainty sword doesn't have much reach, so you'll have to get good with the footwork as well..."Stick and move, stick and move."...hey, Doc Louis' tips really are helpful (Mike Tyson's Punch-out!! reference for those who don't know). This tactic works well in this game, just as it does in Punch-out!!, just as it may be applied to other games as well. Most confrontations with foes will result in you jabbing your pointy little sword into the creature's gut, head, whatever, quickly stepping back just in time to avoid a counter-attack, and repeating, as enemies are rather quick to take vengeance on you.
Sub-weapons you can use, once you find them and pick them up, are a Power Ball, Ice Ball, Boomerang, Molotov Cocktail, Pistol, and Knife, all are thrown and are limited in usage depending on how filled up your special weapon meter is, also each sub-weapon uses up a different amount of this meter as well. About those sub-weapons: The most useful is definitely the Ice Ball, it will freeze any foe, even bosses, for a few seconds, giving you time to deal more damage to them, or flee, while they are frozen, but it uses up a lot of your sub-weapon's meter, the plus though is that if you miss with it it'll continue to roll back and forth if within a confined area, all the more time for an enemy to run into it. The rest of the sub-weapons aren't particularly impressive, but they serve their purpose and some are powerful against certain bosses. The Power Ball flies in a wavy motion like Samus' Wave Beam in Metroid. The Molotov Cocktail acts kinda like Simon's holy water in that he throws it in a small arch and it burns upon impact with ground. The Pistol and Knife are both straight long-ranged throwing and shooting weapons. The boomerang, from what I remember, can also collect items for you. Though I rarely use any of these weapons outside of using the Ice Ball. Also, unlike Castlevania, you can carry more than one type of sub-weapon at a time and switch between them, collecting another won't replace the one you're currently using.
Control is not as good as Castlevania's, reaction time is a bit slower, though once you learn the timing, it is still decent, but nor is it the same, such as some control mechanics being irregular. One thing different is how you use your sub-weapons, you hold up and press jump to use 'em, opposed to the usual pressing of the attack button with the up directional, because attack combined with the up 'n down arrows in this game is reserved towards manipulating your falcon into taking off from, or landing on your shoulder, as well as its attack dives.
You don't have complete control over your falcon though, you command it to begin its flight by holding up and pressing attack, from that point it flies back and forth in a wavy flight path all its own free will, from one edge of the screen, then back in the opposite direction, not changing direction til it reaches any one side of the screen. You command it to come back to you in the same control method, up and attack while it's in flight. Attacking with your bird, pressing down and attack while it's in flight, results in it swooping down to harm your foes with beak and talon, certain enemies invulnerable to your sword are not when up against your feathered friend, and you'll also be able to hit out of reach levers by diving at them as well. Cutrus also has a separate health meter from Orin, though it can't be hurt while on your shoulder, it can while in flight if attacked. Also, if you do happen to lose your bird, you may still be able to continue on in the stage, granted no levers are out of Orin's reach, you'll only lose completely if Orin dies, but they're both a team, and are very much reliant on each other to get through this.
More differences, in Castlevania your jump height and distance is preset, you can't adjust it in any way once you press the button, but in 8 Eyes, Orin can adjust his jumping with either a quick tap for little jumps, or holding it more for a fuller jump. Another interesting note, in Castlevania, if you walked too far past the edge of a set of stairs near an open ledge, and this is the case with pretty much every game, chances are you're going to fall straight down through them if you walked off without pressing down, but in 8 Eyes you'll slide down the steps, being able to get down twice as fast than if you were to walk down them, not all particularly useful, but its kinda cool. It would've been better though if used as an attack, certainly ever since playing this and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (and that one episode of the old She-ra cartoon where she rode on a shield down a winding staircase to escape a large spiked ball) this has been something I've always wanted Simon to be able to do, but to slide down stairs while resting on his shield, and crashing through enemies as he slid down them.
Also, before I fail to remember, this game has a two player simultaneous playing option, one person controls the hero, the other controls his falcon, I remember trying it out long ago, but don't remember much in way of details, but do know that it requires much co-operation between both players. From what the instruction manual says, it offers much more freedom with how the falcon is used, with the second player being able to control the bird entirely, I suppose one of these days I could try it out again by myself.
Crosses, come in both red and white (small, or large), either replenishing your health, or sub-weapon meter (red for health, white for weapon). The red cross can also heal Cutrus' health as well, depending on who collects it - you or your bird. There are other power-ups as well that may raise your maximum health or weapon supply, or make you temporarily invulnerable. One more thing, about our hero, he's only got one life, lose and its game over, but that's what you have passwords for. Thank goodness for the password feature. Each password consists of ten digits, all being upper-case letters only, so its not a painful password as letters are easy to tell apart.
Within each castle you encounter a wide range of foes, from human (swordsmen, knife throwers, gun-totters, archers, magicians, knights of various sorts, fire-breathers, ect) to the undead (skeletons, skeletons with swords, sitting ones that spew fire, flying skulls, ghosts, ect) fierce animals (bats, flying bugs, parrots, eagles, panthers, ect) to a small variety of strange monsters. I love the large, diverse cast of enemies in this game. Each enemy type within each stage appropriately fits into where that stage is located. Enemies are very aggressive, slicing or stabbing at you rapidly with their weapons or throwing stuff at you, but they seem to respond only when you get close or in their line of sight, otherwise they just patrol their given route, guarding their master's place. Flying foes flutter by non-stop in certain areas, none of them really give chase, but they do seem to base their trajectory on your position, sometimes widening their wavy or loopy flight pattern across the screen.
Bosses are big (aren't they always?) humans over twice your height, and certainly even more in bulk, and are very tough, each being a duke of sorts in their respective country, and all very skilled in whatever weaponry or art they have chosen to master. Strategies for fighting each boss is going to be different, one thing you won't be able to do is just go up to them and start slashing away at them in a mindless frenzy, because chances are you'll end up dead. Instead you'll have to carefully watch their movements and attack patterns and devise some sort of strategy, usually there's some safe place within the bosses' chamber to escape to so you can regain your composure if need be.
In fighting each boss, you will have to make good use of whatever sub-weapons you've acquired (some do more damage than others to certain bosses), as well as your falcon friend (your bird buddy isn't only good for his dive-bombing attacks, but can also be good at diverting a bosses' attention away from you), and sometimes, when you can, using the scenery to your advantage (retreating up stairs, or ducking behind a ledge, or finding a safe spot and letting Cutrus do all the work for you).
Most importantly the thing about each duke,is knowing their weakness. Certain swords that you wield do more damage than another to certain bosses, you can't switch between these swords, nor does your sword look any different while playing, and even the attack power difference is unknown until you confront the boss, but the one you have depends on the last stage you beat. After defeating a duke, on the password screen you'll also see the colored sword that you've earned, this can also be seen in the sub-screen while on the stage select screen. The thing is, is knowing what sword is best against which boss is in knowing which color jewel each duke holds.
You start out with a black sword, therefore your best opponent choice should be the Spaniard in Spain, he holds the black jewel, and from him you'll get the red sword, but unfortunately if without the instruction manual, you still have no way of knowing which jewel is in each dukes' possession until you've beaten them. In knowing, during the battle, whether you wield the right sword for the job, it depends on how much damage you deal to them, if you happen to take down at least a half a block of his health or more with one strike of your sword, then you know you have the right one. It is possible to beat any of the bosses out of the best order, its just that they're going to take more hits to kill. But just remember, black sword against black jewel, red sword against red jewel, and so on.
Oddly, after you've defeated each boss, you'll both be sitting with each other, having a cup 'o tea or something, its like a frickin' boss 'n tea party, jolly good and all that, let by-gones be. Also a skeleton will be waiting on you, serving your drinks. And this is your password screen, quite different from the norm, that's for sure.
I'm assuming the duke was good to begin with, maybe just taken over by the power of the jewel he held (one of those 8 Eyes), and after you beat him and took the jewel from him, he became normal again. Or that you just managed to convince him of what he was doing was wrong, whatever that be, and he agreed and gave up his evil ways. Or maybe all bad guys in this so called ruined future, though evil, are still very honorable men. Maybe it was all just a big misunderstanding. Who knows, just that somehow they ended up having drinks together.
For some reason a scene from The Princess Bride movie came to mind at the writing of this review, "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you." Inigo said (Enriquez Bartona, the duke of Spain in this game, perhaps may have said the same thing, and he too is a Spaniard and master swordsman), and "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die." Wesley replied back (Orin may not have a mask, instead he has a falcon, but he too is good at swordplay). And even though enemies at first, they later become friends.
And then there's the part with the drinking, so much it reminds me of the battle of wits against Vizzini - surely Orin and these dukes aren't playing that same game, but having drinks with my former opponent, whom I just beat, sitting across from me at the same table, and being served by one of his henchmen in his home, isn't very comforting, it'd certainly make me wonder if my glass were poisoned. Afterall I just gave him a good beating, and took a treasure most invaluable from him, I'd think for certain those wheels in his head were quietly spinning, somehow plotting some way to get revenge. To the victor goes the spoils...just don't drink the wine. Never trust a drink you didn't get yourself.