Crystal Castles tries its hardest to be fun, but after a quarter or 2, it's not worth it.
The game Crystal Castles is an early "platforming" like game, where you play as Bently Bear. You must get every gem on each stage to advance. This game was created with 1 purpose in mind, which it fulfills very well: to be a quarter eater.
This game starts out easy. A few paths, dotted with gems, and 3 enemies. The next stage is a bit harder. There are 4 paths leading downward, and 4 enemies. The next one is really hard, with a large dome, and LOTS of enemies. The 4th level is near impossible, unless you want to spend 2 dollars beating it. Even though you get 3 lives a quarter, this game is insane.
More about the game play. Most enemies can collect gems, which actually helps to complete the level, but you only get a point bonus if you got the last gem. There is also a magic hat that makes you immune to just about anything for a limited time, and it can kill enemies. The one thing that makes this game so incredibly difficult is the sandstorm, or dust devil, or whatever the heck it is. If you take too long on any given level, it will appear and chase you for about 5 seconds. Now take note that it goes about 3 times faster than you, and comes back every 2 seconds. Also on some levels, it only takes about 5 seconds for the sandstorm to appear, which wouldn't even be 1/10th of the time needed to complete the course if there were no enemies at all! The worst thing about the sandstorm, is despite how far it can travel, it cannot pick up gems, meaning you have to collect the rest, while being chased by this thing! Of course, it was only included so you would die faster, and put in another quarter.
Despite that, the game is pretty darn fun, and it's got some interesting things to it. Just like in Q*bert, when Bentley dies, the words sometimes come out as blocked swears (like S#!&) It was also one of the first games I know of that included a cheat. (run behind the large structure on level 1, and jump, and it will transport you to level 3-1 and reward you lots and lots of points.) All in All, crystal castles would be an awesome game, if it didn't try so hard to kill you! Thanks for reading.