Capcom’s Ghouls N’ Ghosts is a classic platform game that was released on the NES, Genesis, SNES, and even on the arcades. It required a lot of memorization on jumps, where enemies wait for you, and had that difficulty that made it extremely rewarding once the stage is complete. Capcom tried bringing this feel back in 2002 with Maxima: Ghosts to Glory. To give it the old-school feel, it required a lot of memorization as well on where to jump and where every enemy is so you can try getting through the stage with getting hit the least amount of times as possible. The reason why you want to get through without getting hit at all is because: armor and health were very scarce to find, extra lives came to you very rarely, and there are very few save points in the game at all. So it brings you back to the days that you had to beat the game in one sitting. This was great for hardcore, old-school gamers that want a challenge, but it was extremely difficult for mainstream audience. Hence many saw it as a flop even though it was a well made game. Then in January of 2004, the sequel Maximo vs Army of Zin was released. This follow-up game brought back all the great game play with improvements, and even lowered the difficulty reasonably enough so it can be possible to beat for casual gamers. The game takes place 8 months after the first Maximo game. Grimm comes to Maximo telling him that souls haven’t been coming to the underworld, and coincidentally, an army of robots (which happen to be powered by souls) have appeared out of no where and are attacking the land. It’s up to Maximo to find out where these robots are coming from and to stop them. The story is somewhat interesting, but isn’t exactly the best in the world. Although, what it lacks in story, it surely makes up in game play. What pretty much killed the first Maximo game was how hard it was. Only the hardcore gamers appreciated the difficulty level of that game. The sequel is a far more forgiving game. You constantly have the chance to find health, extra armor, or extra lives. All these items can be bought from a peddler or old man that follows you in the game as well. The old man happens to sell you techniques that can improve on your combat. You also have the ability to save your game between levels as well. Even though the difficulty has been dramatically dropped, it is still challenging enough to keep the game fun. But like the first Maximo, it plays with a solid combination of hack n’ slash combat with a good balance of plat forming. You start off with just a sword and a shield in this game. You eventually find a war hammer and an upgraded version of both these weapons as well. With techniques you can buy along the way, the combat continuously improves to keep the game interesting and fun. Also, you can collect enough souls to fill your Grimm bar to play as Grimm for a very short time, which has extremely powerful attack and is invulnerable. This is very similar to the devil trigger in Devil May Cry. The plat forming maybe a little simple at times, but at other moments you have to be quick on your feet from falling platforms or birds attacking you, which adds enough challenge to keep that portion of the game fun. These two are both balanced out well enough to appeal to fans of either genre, and balanced out enough to keep the game fun and less boring. The graphics have been nicely improved from the last game. It uses the same, cartoon-like look to it which gives it some style, although, some people might not like that about the graphics. All the enemies, villagers, the stages, and even Maximo himself are all colourful and attractive to look at. Some of the textures of the levels might look a bit too grainy. Also, during the cg scenes, everyone looks too shiny, and creates the illusion that everyone is made out of plastic. Overall, the graphics and effects are great. The sound is excellent, especially the voice acting. All the characters have great sounding voices that go well with their role. The clanks of your sword against the robots, and the smashing of your hammer against them give you the feel that your impact actually has strength to it. The music goes well with the game, like some cartoon horror music that’s quite fitting. The only downfall I can think of with the sound is the annoying repetition of sounds. Just about all the villagers you save sound exactly the same. And hearing the Baron yell “Maximo Hurry, Maximo Hurry, Maximo Hurry, I can’t hold them much longer, I can’t hold them much longer” gets very annoying since he keeps repeating those without breath in between. This game has a fair amount of replay value in it. It’ll take a good 16 to 20 hours to beat the game. Also, as a reward of completing a stage 100% (finding all secrets, saving everyone, killing all enemies) you unlock a new set of concept art. While this isn’t the greatest reward you can get, it’s still something interesting to look at. Not only that, but you might end up revisiting a stage or two just so you can earn more money for a new technique or something else to buy. Maximo vs Army of Zin has been a much overlooked game. Many people were just never interested in it since they didn’t enjoy the first Maximo very much. If you enjoy either hack n’ slash action games, or even plat formers, you should give this game a try. By now, you can probably find this game very cheap at a used game store, so go ahead and try it out of you have the chance of finding it pretty cheap. Or you should at least give it a rental. Hopefully, Capcom will continue the Maximo line with a third installment and maybe that will get the attention that the second Maximo deserved but never received.
The Second (And Apparently Last) Installment in the Maximo storyline. Maximo Vs Army of Zin, is a even better than the Original. With Far more weapons, the ability to play as Grim ( The Grim Reaper) and of course, killer... Read Full Review
If you thought you were good at games the original Maximo gave you a swift, deft kick in the groin to teach you a lesson. Waves of enemies and tonnes of platforms to leap across made it one hellish adventure. Essentially... Read Full Review
