'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' Sega Genesis Review 'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' is an amazing game which is of great quality.
'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' is an amazing game which is of great quality but loses points due to its lack of balance.
I am not going to discuss the campaign of this game, because although it has a plot, there is no need in mentioning it for the player to enjoy the game.
There is also no need to mention the campaign because due to there only being one mode barring 2-player mode (which is essentially the campaign), the campaign is the only option you have and discussing it would detract from far more important points. In this review I shall discuss the Game play, Sound and Presentation of 'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' on the Sega Genesis.
Game play
'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' is a 2D action game. It requires patience and skill for one to get to the end parts of the game and is immensely difficult. The games difficulty shouldn't put anyone off though as the game, although in places seems unfair, in some cases the difficulty can be passed through trial and error. Though you will die a lot and you will likely get sick of hearing the same death music play through over and over again, the game is still enjoyable.
The game play plays through quite easily, you move with the directional pad while using A to jump and B to attack; you can also use C to jump but I prefer A. Your attacks are quite accurate, but can only be fired in 5 directions (up, left, left while ducking, right and right while ducking), this is a good range of attacks and the controls are very responsive when playing.
Enemies don't seem cheap when playing, some take more damage than others but that is not a problem it just bumps up the difficulty and challenge; you would also expect a variety of enemies and 'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' follows this. The one problem with combat in the game is the weapons, some are far better than others and you find that sometimes you will want to kill yourself in-game in order to require access to a weapons chest and get a better weapon.
Plat forming in the game is good, but not great, some sections such as when you are walking on tongues of gargoyles is when 'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' shows the limitations of plat forming. Sure you can jump from them, but it has to be very specific in order for the character to make it to the end of the level, some would say its part of the challenge but I would say it's very frustrating and unnecessary. That's just how the levels were created though.
Sound
'Ghouls 'n' Ghosts' sounds great, the theme song in the first level is a very catchy song, and the sound quality is good. The music is consistent throughout the game but none of the music lives up to that of the first level in my opinion. The music is quite eerie and this goes well with the theme of the game; it sounds how it looks.
You will have to get used to hearing the death music of the game though and that is greatly frustrating. The sound of it is soothing at the start and not awful, but once you get past the first part it becomes an annoyance. When turtles are flying at you at speed in the second part you will likely die a lot and from there onwards that game over chorus singes your ears.
The music is well synced throughout the game though, when you attack the sound effects sound smooth and respond well. The game isn't out of sync to confuse you and the game sounds how you would expect it to sound. When you attack each weapon has different sounds and these sounds fit well to each weapon.
Presentation
The game looks good for 16-bit, though some stages have repetitive looks throughout. The worst encounter I have had was the gargoyles in stage4. The gargoyles look like stone statues so you don't think they are going to harm you, but as soon as you touch them you are dead. It took me a while to work out they are enemies and this was very annoying.
The presentation isn't great but looks good, the situation I mentioned above is a 1 off and this is not such a drag on the game that it deserves a low score. You can recognise the atmosphere of the levels, you can tell that the first is a forest and second a desert, but the presentation isn't why you would buy this game. The game play mechanics is why you would buy this game.
The game would take roughly 5 hours to complete and there is a hard difficulty for those who want more from the game. There is no save system in the game though and this is annoying, you cannot turn off your console (if you want to get to the end) if you have something else to do and it interferes with your game.
Conclusion
The game has great game play mechanics that are very responsive; but have slight balance issues. The game is challenging but at times can be rather frustrating. The game looks okay and the sounds are great. It is a very enjoyable game that takes up a small amount of time I would recommend it everyone as a video game to play on your genesis.