Black Knight Sword Review

Though he wears heavy armor, the Black Knight is surprisingly nimble, capable of sprinting, double jumping, and backflipping when necessary. You spend a lot of time fighting enemies, but some of the game’s most challenging segments involve navigating lofty platforms, all the while avoiding spikes, pitfalls, and stacks of flame spewing heads. The mix of demanding platforming and tricky enemy patterns makes timing your jumps and strikes a delicate procedure. It’s almost too easy to take damage and jeopardize your progress unless you consistently play your hand just right. Mastering the required timing takes a lot of practice, but its incredibly motivating when you finally figure out how to tackle a particular stage without losing lives. In most platformers, it doesn't mean a whole lot to have to restart a level, but in Black Knight Sword, stages can last upwards of thirty minutes.

You can save your game at anytime during a stage to preserve your progress and accumulated items at the the most recent checkpoint, but choosing when and where to save can be tricky at first. You have two options when choosing to continue: you can load your last save and give it another go or restart the level with a fresh stock of lives. Save at the wrong time, and you may find yourself stuck in an impossible situation without enough health to finish the level.The second options sounds reasonable enough then, but it comes at the cost of your health and equipment upgrades, the former being a crucial element to your survival in the long run. Enemies drop currency in the form of beating hearts that you can spend on said enhancements and it can take the better part of five stages to realize your full potential. So what then do you do when confronted with the roadblock outlined above? At some point, you wouldn't be crazy for thinking a complete restart is in order. You may even feel the need to set the difficulty to easy.

There’s so much more to Black Knight Sword than completing the Story mode a single time that you shouldn't concern yourself with proving your worth right away. Plus, when you ultimately reach the end of the final stage for the first time, you’re unceremoniously thrust back to the start of the game after a meager, unfulfilling ending. Not unlike the classic, Ghouls’n Ghosts, this is the game’s way of telling you that you need to do it all over again if you want to see the true ending. Thankfully, it opens up the New Game + option that allows you retain your armor and health upgrades. Only when you can play with a fully-realized Black Knight from the start does the Normal difficulty begin to feel like a reasonably accomplishable task.

Say hello to the world's most unusual shopkeeper.

After completing the Story Mode a second time, you may be tempted to explore the additional content in the Arcade and Challenge modes, but it’s unfortunately more of the same. Arcade mode remixes enemy layouts and removes the ability to continue after losing all of your lives. It’s the most difficult rendition of Black Knight Sword’s five stages, which is saying a lot, but it’s not exactly new content. Challenge mode consists of twenty-five brief levels that are essentially glorified time trials, but Black Knight Sword’s gameplay doesn’t fit within that mold very well. Frustratingly, most challenges start you off with a single unit of life and your attempt ends the moment you even touch an enemy. Add that to the lengthy process required to restart a challenge and any remaining motivation to press on quickly disappears.

It takes time to master Black Knight Sword's strict mechanics, so expect to expend some effort conquering each stage without losing a life or two. People with the perseverance to do so will discover that it’s actually fair and balanced in all but a few minor instances. Challenging games aren't inherently bad unless the gameplay is somehow broken, but Black Knight Sword’s adherence to a high-standard of difficulty will ultimately turn a lot of people off. If you prefer your platformers charming and whimsical, this game is best avoided. If, however, you’re looking for a challenging, action heavy platformer that’s reminiscent of old-school behemoths, waste no time picking up Black Knight Sword on either PSN or XBLA.