MediEvil

Developer - Sony Europe
Publisher - Sony
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card, Analog, Dual shock

The bit on the box

"Lost to the winds of time is the history of Gallowmere, a land where magic has overtaken science and one sorcerer - the tormented Zarok - has harnessed it's darkest powers. Sir Daniel Fortesque is the only man who can defeat him - unfortunately he died over a hundred years ago...! Awakened as a skeletal knight, Sir Dan must amass an arsenal of weapons to use against the twisted wizard. Featuring awesome lighting effects, unique characters and a humorous, enthralling story in an action-packed RPG-style adventure."

Graphics

MediEvil has some of the most well designing graphics that have been seen on the PlayStation, showing how much painstaking effort must have gone into it's development to get things just right. The animation of Sir Dan and all the enemies in the game is not only comical, but also extremely smooth, which complements the detail and sharpness of the graphics in general. The overall feeling of the game (a sort of cross between comedy and horror) is greatly enhanced by the lighting effects, and the immensity of the colour palette never leaves the player thinking that Sony took any shortcuts along the way even with all the levels on offer. All these things combined together make the game look like a cross between Crash Bandicoot and the movie "Nightmare Before Christmas".

Sounds

Again, Sony have pulled out all the stops to make MediEvil very Halloween oriented. The soundtrack is spooky without being scary and so can be enjoyed by both young and old alike, and blends in with the action so well you'll always notice it but never be distracted by it. The sound effects are many and varied, with the sort of things you'd expect to hear in a goosebumps tale, old creaky doors, screams in the distance, the shuffling of footsteps just around the corner. It's no wonder with attention to detail like this that MediEvil took so long to be released. The graphics and sound combine to make an entirely immersive experience for the player.

Gameplay

At it's core MediEvil feels mostly like a 3D platformer, but it does blend in a certain amount of hack and slash action into the brew. The controls feel solid and not overly loose (like Spyro the Dragon) and there is always the feeling that getting killed is the player's fault, and not the fault of the game. However if you were thinking this game was sounding perfect so far, there is one thing Sony do not seem to have been able to work out sufficiently as with many other developers who make these types of games. The camera. While the camera angles are for the most part good, the views are not fully automatic and the player has to manually swing the camera about using the shoulder buttons, which at times can lead to some frustrating moments whilst in combat. While annoying, it is not as bad as games like Deathtrap Dungeon and generally does provide a very good view of the action (most of the time).

I feel a verdict coming on

I have to say that after I finished MediEvil I did have the feeling of absolute satisfaction (which I can't say about many of the games I have played). The game is well designed, easy to get into, difficult to master, nice to look at and listen to, and easy to control (when not having to swing the camera and weapon about at the same time). Even though there plenty of spatterings of CG cut scenes throughout the game, the player will marvel at how consistent the in-game level detail and design is from beginning to end, and combined with many secrets and extra weapons to be collected and used (done in a similar fashion to the classic Ghosts 'n' Goblins) there is a hell of alot of replay value here. Kudos to Sony for trying something different, and making it pay off.

Review by D.R.T.Barrett