Tag: Ghosts ‘n Goblins

  • Review: Capcom Arcade Stadium (PS4)

    Review: Capcom Arcade Stadium (PS4)

    Capcom has a long, storied career in the gaming industry, pushing out some of gaming’s greatest titles that are still known today. But, as with many publishers, they have just as many titles that have been forgotten outside of the retro gaming community, and sometimes even there too. Retro compilations, such as Capcom Arcade Stadium, help to fill in those gaps while providing you with a way to play some of your favourite titles without hassle.

    Whether you have fond memories of playing some of these games in the arcades, or perhaps at home, if you were lucky enough to have a console as a kid, there’s no denying both the artistry and business acumen that went into making these games. Yes, they were meant to entertain and enjoy, but they were also meant to separate a child from his parent’s money. And they were very, very successful at it too.

    Now, with Capcom Arcade Stadium you can relive those fond moments again from the comfort of your home and without the need to spend, spend and spend some more on tokens just to finish one game. Instead, you’ll just have to spend on buying the games themselves as Arcade Stadium itself is a free download, the ROMs themselves, not so much.

    Running on Capcom’s RE Engine, Arcade Stadium has thirty-two of Capcom’s Arcade classics for you to enjoy. The gamut of titles runs roughly from 1984 to 2001 and Capcom have packaged them into three packs with ten games to a pack. Capcom’s classic Ghosts ‘n Goblins is a standalone paid-for download, though it was originally free on release for a limited time.

    The titles you’re looking at right now are: Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Section Z, Tatakai no Banka, Legendary Wings, Bionic Commando, 1943, Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Strider, Dynasty Wars, Final Fight, 1941 – Counter Attack, Senjo no Okami II, Mega Twins, Carrier Air Wing, Street Fighter II, Captain Commando, Varth, Warriors of Fate, Street Fighter II – Hyper Fighting, Street Fighter Turbo, Powered Gear, Cyber Bots, 19XX, Battle Circuit, Giga Wing, 1944, Progear, Vulgus, Pirate Ship Higemaru, 1942 and Commando.

    There’s definitely a larger selection of beat-‘em ups and shmups in the line-up, though the releases more than likely will give you an insight into what was popular back in the arcades during each of those generations.

    What’s important to note though is just how well these games run, and how playable many of them still are. Whether you’re looking for some quick action to pass the time or to hone your fighting skills to perfection, there’s something here for you. Ghosts ‘n Goblins will still test your platforming patience while Street Fighter II (which I now seem to suck at) will remind you just how fantastic 2D sprite animation is, along with how much harder 2D fighters are. Strider is still a hard, action-platformer while the 1940’s series is still addictive twitch shooting action. And now you can finish them thanks to infinite credits too.

    As with any compilation of games, your mileage will vary on what’s in the collection. So with all the retro compilations that have come out, what is it that makes Capcom Arcade Stadium stand out from the rest?

    The answer to that comes down to two things. One, that Arcade Stadium is a dedicated platform to host Capcom’s arcade titles with substantial possibility for future growth, and two, the wealth of options built into the platform for you to tailor the gaming experience to suit you.

    With the RE Engine powering it and games treated as DLC, Capcom can bring even more of their titles to the platform in the future if it’s worth their while. So here’s hoping for some more of their classic titles, such as Knights of The Round, and more “recent” fair such as Powerstone, Cannon Spike, and my favourite Spawn game, Spawn: In The Demons Hand.

    Arcade Stadiums presentation is top-notch and Capcom have gone out of their way to ensure that you can have a modern, respect-your-time playing experience, or to make it as hardcore as you could want. Beyond changing the game’s difficulty, amount of lives you begin with, etc. you can also save your game at any time and reload whenever you choose to. Game speed can also be sped up or slowed down to suit you to the point where it feels like a Zack Snyder slow-mo shot. If you happen to mess up a section there’s also a handy rewind feature to take you back to just before your bungle and put it right. Of course, you can also play the games as they were meant to be played at their default setting and hope your controller can withstand the manhandling sure to follow. A nice feature is that most of the games, bar those that either didn’t get English translations or releases, have both their original Japanese roms and English versions included, switchable on the main menu screen.

    Before you load up a ROM, which is instantaneous, you can change a whole bunch of options along with viewing a digital manual for the game. Viewing options run the gamut from different backgrounds and wallpapers to a whole bunch of filters you can apply. My favourite backgrounds are the 3D tilted arcade cabinets which emulate the viewing experience you would have had in an actual arcade. It does make the game screen smaller but it’s absolutely classy. When you combine this with the various visual filters such as pixel smoothing, a CRT filter for that authentic look along with different screen types, such as oval, to further emulate screen shapes back in the day, you have yourself just about the perfect visual customisation service.

    Speaking of that menu screen, it really is gorgeous. Showcasing a digital line of arcade cabinets, each one home to a game as you scroll through the list. On the menu, games are broken up into various filters, such as action, fighting, etc. The only option missing is a list by alphabet tab which hopefully Capcom can include at a later date.

    While Capcom Arcade Stadium doesn’t include all the games you may want, when thinking of the gaming giant’s roster, it is a fantastic platform that can be further built upon. With a great presentation system, perfect emulation of the games on display, Capcom Arcade Stadium is the best retro platforming system I’ve seen and used from any of the collections released thus far.

    Pros:

    • Fantastic presentation
    • Wealth of options
    • CRT filters are the way
    • Ghosts ‘n Goblins and Street Fighter II, need I say more?

    Cons:

    • Can only purchase games in packs and not singularly at the moment

    Score: 8/10

  • Review: Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection (PS4)

    Review: Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection (PS4)

    After a hard day of knighting, you just want to get out of that stiff armour and lounge around in your boxers, hopefully while in the company of your dearest princess. But wouldn’t you know it, evil doesn’t care about your day off, or that princesses have better things to do than get abducted every second week. So off you go, grabbing that armour while, in the distance, your kingdom burns beneath a devilish assault.

    So with armour clenched tight, lance in hand and a permanent scowl on his face, our hero Arthur prepares to face another manic Monday. . .

    Well okay, it’s not really Monday. I’m pretty sure what day it is doesn’t matter when your kingdom is burning. But what it is, is the day we welcome the Ghosts ‘n Goblins series back with Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection. That’s right, the original rock hard, make you cry Dark Souls of its day has a new game and it’s here to show you what hard really is all about.

    Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection originally launched earlier this year, February to be exact, on Nintendo Switch and now Capcom has finally brought it to PS4 with PS5 backwards compatibility, Xbox One and PC, letting the rest of the gaming community experience one of gaming’s toughest hard love franchises.

    As both a reboot and a remake of the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Resurrection yet again places you in the armour of put upon knight Arthur as his princess is kidnapped while a demonic invasion turns the kingdom into an overrun, twisted hellscape. You’re going to have to side-scroll and platform your way through one tough level after another in an attempt to beat the ever-loving snot out of the dastardly evil behind this plot while, hopefully, not breaking your controller in the process.

    Once you get past the stunning visual style that Capcom has employed for this reboot which makes the game look like a fable drawn from a storybook, you’ll find that Capcom has employed the old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Arthur moves exactly as he did in the older games, just with better animation. He possesses the same level of speed, making timing a critical choice and can only jump over and onto objects if you jump while moving. Jumping while standing still will merely propel Arthur straight up, meaning you have to unlearn many of the moves that modern platformers have brought to the table since then. Arthur can also attack in three directions: in front of him, above him by aiming up and below him if you attack while jumping and pressing down on the D-pad or directional buttons.

    The key to success in a level, beyond mastering the way Arthur controls and having twitch reflexes, is in memorising the level design and enemy attack patterns. Levels usually have moving parts to them, which adds a nice sense of dynamics to the environment. What weapon you wield is just as important as all of the above. Arthur’s arsenal has expanded since the first game though his trusty default lance is usually the best all-rounder. Picking the right tool for the job, as the saying goes, is tantamount to success. The hammer that unleashes a small arc of energy across distances requires you to get too close to enemies while the dual-shot crossbow requires a lot of jumping to hit an enemy because of the arrows diagonal shots. The holy water is still useless. Weapons can drop from chests or jar carrying enemies.

    Two big additions to this game are Umbra bees and a local two-player co-op mode. Collecting the bees scattered across the levels will unlock magic abilities for Arthur. Magic does need to be charged up for use so you with a brief cool down so you can’t just spam it, making its use more tactical than a Hail Mary when you suddenly find yourself surrounded. The two player co-op lets a second player use a ghostly ancestor of Arthur’s to help him through the levels. Controlling one of three spirits with their own abilities, player two can help Arthur through a level by carrying him around, for instance.

    The games visuals are gorgeous, employing a multi-layered approach to screen elements that make the characters seem like a combination of paper art and puppets with elements placed on top of one another. The animation is also wonderful and each enemy has their own distinct visual style and movement. The visuals, which look straight out of a storybook, can’t hide the games difficulty though.

    Because Resurrection, as befitting a GnG title, is hard. But not unbeatably so. Capcom has chosen to incorporate four difficulty settings, aiming at embracing modern gaming conventions while still attracting the hard-core crowd.

    Page lets you respawn at the exact spot you died at with no level time limit and a max of four hits you can take before crumbling to a skeleton. Squire gives you the same four hit limit, level checkpoint and mid-level rebirth checkpoints but throws back in the time limit. Knight takes you down to three hits, checkpoints, a time limit and an increase in enemy speed. Legend takes you back to the original GNG settings by dropping you down to a two hit maximum with no rebirth checkpoints and more enemies.

    Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is the perfect platform to showcase Arthur’s return to his own series. It’s both difficult enough to appeal to stalwart series veterans while making enough concessions that casual gamers too will be able to finish it. It’s also a wonderful showcase for the versatility of the RE Engine with its gorgeous visuals and animation. Whether you’re a GNG neophyte or accomplished devil slayer, this game should not be missed.

    Pros:

    • Not as difficult as the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins
    • Gorgeous storybook aesthetic
    • Full of character
    • Different difficulty levels

    Cons:

    • Magic takes a bit too long to activate

    Score: 9/10

    Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection was reviewed using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher.