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Game Title: Crypt Killer
Platform: PSOne
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Light Gun Shooter
Age Rating: 11+ ELSPA
Release Date: May 1997
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Game Score: 7.0/10
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Summery:
While the graphics may look horrible Crypt Killer at the very least has it's points of originality and some replay value that does make it enjoyable regardless.
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Konami's Light gun shooter Crypt Killer is one of games few people played in arcades and liked it. It came out at a time where Light gun games found a place with the Time Crisis series and some other consoles wanted to try and bring the genre into different settings. Monstrous settings isn't something that Light gun games have ever done and here we are with Crypt Killer manages to bring the genre to that setting with rather good results compared to what most people say about it.
As always it's on rails leaving you to shoot down everything that you see on the screen using either a standard controller or Konami's Hyper Blaster which is the only Light gun controller that is compatible with this game. The game guides you through various caves, temples and crypts which have their own range of enemies to shoot down. These enemies include as I said mythical creatures like mummies, skeletons, fish-men, gargoyles and other monsters that came and attack. They can attack with either a close range melee attack or a projectile attack which can be shot in the air. You do get power ups like a powered up shotgun, gatling gun, grenade launcher as well as screen clearing bombs. You'll get those weapons till they run out of ammo or you'll take damage which switches you back to your regular weapon. Speaking of ammo you can reload manually or you can set the reloading to automatic which is very helpful when you want to relay on just strictly shooting.
What Crypt Killer does very well is the multiple path system in which allows you to get one of the different endings in the game. You can select one of the 6 stages to start in and when you complete a stage you can chose from either the left or right paths which determine the stage you'll enter next. Each stage has about 3 acts of shooting waves of enemies and when you get to the fourth act you'll fight a boss like the Medusa or the Hydra. Destroy one of the bosses and you'll one of the Eyes of Guidances which are either Blue or Red which getting the both together after beating the next stage will give you one of the many unlockable endings. Either you get one of the good endings or end up to your grimly demise in the bad ending. This is where the game gets it's replay value cause you want to get the right Eye pieces from the bosses to get the good endings.
There is really nothing much to complain about in terms of gameplay it's a 90s light gun shooter where the gameplay is fast paced and you have to quick reflexes or the enemy will get a hit on you. Crypt Killer is a tricky game, the game can be played with only two players instead of 3 players in the arcade version and you have share credits with a friend. In this version the max amount of lives and continues you can have is 3 and there is no way increase them further which is a shame I swear. Crypt Killer can also by difficult if you are not using the Light Gun cause some areas will have dozens of enemies or have very fast enemies or have dangerous hazards that using the controller cursor is too slow to deal with the challenge. There is nothing more frustrating then to get far only to run out of lives and continues and you have to start all over again. At least there are no innocent civilians to watch out for in the game which is a good thing allowing you concentrate on shooting down anything in your way.
The Light gun accuracy in the game is miles better then how poorly accurate the gun was for Lethal Enforcers. Just make sure you play the game on an old TV that works well with Light gun games then you'll be fine. At least the game has a simple to use calibration system which makes it easy to set up and play. Still it's nowhere near perfect accuracy of the G-Con 45 which sadly is not compatible with this game.
Visually the game is very mixed, the environment look decent but the sprites are very pixelated and have very bad animations, the gunshots and explosion sound effects are very nice and the creatures are designed well. The music tracks are very cool and catchy and the gun sound effects are impactful. There is some voice acting from Galazon who guides you thoughout the game and you'll hear a few quotes that are good dispute what little there is.
It's a very difficult game both in gameplay and to look at but however there are some great things in Crypt Killer that make it as good as Sega's House of the Dead series. Tired of cops and robber settings? Tired of shooting zombies in the head well try Crypt Killer out because it does have a very decent setting with mythical monsters. It is a very expensive game to pick up on auction websites and it isn't as enjoyable as the Time Crisis games so if you are going to buy it then make sure you have a good old fashioned TV and plenty of patience. I can't fully recommend it at full price but I will say that it is I say again better then what most people say about this game.
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The Good Points:
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1. Multiple pathways and endings to take
2. Does not any civilian's to watch out for
3. Has many mythical enemies which is cool
The Bad Points:
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1. Horrible 2D sprite animations
2. Small limit of lives and continues
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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