The demons never need to know what the demons never got to see...
What’s a line from an ace Super Furry Animals song got to do
with this game? Umm, it’s got demons in it! Truth be told we’re just
being lazy while needing a way into this review thingy. Hey, we’re
tired, and there are wolves after us.
Demon’s Crystals
basically filches parts of three 1980s arcade classics, bangs them
together, and comes out at the end with a nice, shiny little
package. Take the level-uppable character choices of Gauntlet
(well, as long as you like pointy-eared demonic chicks), stick it in
a Ghosts ’n Goblins world of darkness and strap a
super-cool, power up-laden Smash TV game mechanic onto it
all.
Yep, we’re talking twin-stick shooter, and there’s a lot
of mindless fun to be had. Your enjoyment, of course, may depend
upon your propensity for mindless fun, as if you stop to think about
things levelling up enough to progress past certain points can be a
tad grindy.
But, King Bob! Erm, mindless fun!
Whether
you pick red, green, blue or yellow it makes little difference other
than satiating your personal colour bias, for each character is
essentially the same operationally. Hit three different creepy
settings, get assailed by nefarious creatures of various strengths
that are all gunning for you, gun back (also destroying buildings
and the like for extra XP), collect insane amounts of super-shiny
crystals, level up, tackle end of level bosses, continue. All while
selectively grabbing timed power-ups – including a cool
fee-fi-fo-fum model. But only selectively, as some are horrid,
especially the last refuge of the scoundrel game creator, the
messed-up controls. BOO!
Add a second local player and the
fun continues.
It’s derivative, but Demon’s Crystals is also slick and really fun – for a while. Plus it
doesn’t cost much, so it’d make a great something for the weekend...
