Is Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection as good as Arthur’s Gold armor, or does it just easily fall apart?
INTRO – My History With Ghosts ‘N Goblins
Before we get into Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection, here’s my history with this series.
I recently have gotten into the Ghosts ‘N Goblins series in 2020. I first got exposed to this series thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online service. I first played the NES Ghosts ‘N Goblins through the NES Switch Online application on the Switch. Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and Demon’s Crest – the latter a spinoff of Ghosts ‘N Goblins and a sequel to Gargoyle’s Quest on Game Boy – were next on my list, through the SNES App. The SNES Ghosts ‘N Goblins game was enjoyable – far more so than the NES version. Demon’s Crest, on the other hand, was infuriating to get used to controls-wise, and playing as the Red Arremer known as Firebrand was.. an incredible experience that made up for the difficult controls.
With my personal history lesson on this series out of the way, however, let’s see if the newest installment, Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection, is as good as the rest of the series, or if it falls apart at the slightest touch.
STORY – A retelling of a Ghosts ‘N Goblins classic
The story of Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is a reboot. The forces of Hell have invaded a village and Princess Prin Prin is kidnapped. Arthur attempts to rescue her straight away, but is KO’d by the shadowy winged demon (presumed to be a Red Arremer). Arthur, undeterred,suits back up and sets out to rescue both Princess Prin Prin, and the Umbral Bees that fled the Umbral Tree due to the demonic attack. From there, the story is strsightforward.
Before anyone even asks, and this is a HUGE Spoiler, you get a credits roll, enemy highlight reel, and altered Shadow versions of whatever stage 1s and 2s you chose to clear on your first playthrough, so technically, the game can be beaten on your first playthrough with everything unlocked and completed (More on that in the Gameplay section).
It’s a simple, and effective story. The lack of having to play through the game twice for the true ending can be a turn off for hardcore fans of the series, and it probably is, but at least the game gives you the ending after the 1st playthrough for your hard work.
GAMEPLAY – The Classic Formula is Back for a New Generation
The gameplay for Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is PUNISHINGLY hard. If you’re playing on PAGE difficulty – one of four difficulties – you’re probably a newcomer to this series. In that case, I don’t blame you. Immediate resurrection (heh!) upon death is nice prospect. it does take from the challenge this series is known for quite a bit, though.
Squire gives you 4 hits before death and reduces the count of enemies on screen, though Stage 4 is still able to show a lot of enemies at the start if you’re not careful.
Knight difficulty gives you 3 hits to work with, and a familiar, but somewhat merciful, challenge with some checkpoints.
Legend difficulty gives you ONE checkpoint once you reach the boss. Die at ANY POINT beforehand, and it’s back to the beginning of the stage with you, just like the old archaic days of the 1980s.
But wait, there’s 7 stages in this game to complete. You’ll need to complete and memorize all 7 in order to gather all of the Umbral Bees and restore the Umbral Tree to its’ former glory. There are 2 Stage 1s, and 2 Stage 2s.
Also, if you die against a boss or tough section enough times, the game will generally give you hints on how to deal with it, even on the Legend difficulty. Here’s a picture down below.
The game, from a graphical standpoint, looks very beautiful, and the soundtrack compliments the gameplay as well. Each theme feels like was remixed from either the NES Ghosts ‘N Goblins or Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and sounds so freaking good!
On the subject of Umbral Bees, this game brings back magical abilities, first introduced in Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. As I noticed, a lot of elements got brought back from there into this installment.
From the tower boss rush to Lucifer – I’m sorry, “Loki”, to the Shielder, to the Golden Armor. This game is big love letter to the first two games, and it relishes in it.
I had nearly 200 deaths by the end of my first playthrough on Squire difficulty. I can’t wait to see how much that total goes up on he harder difficulties. . . Speaking of which, if you want to experiment with the difficulties in this game, then die on a higher enough times and it will give you an option to lower the difficulty.
CONCLUSION – Is it GOOD?!
Overall, despite the INFURIATING challenges this game will throw at you, it’s very enjoyable. I actually enjoyed myself playing this. Definitely way more so than the original. I do intend on playing on either Knight or Legend difficulty on a seperate save file, since you can’t change the difficulty mid-game unless you want to lower the challenge mid-level. It was very enjoyable, and I look forward to the next installment in this rebooted series.
NOTE:Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection was provided to Movies Games and Tech by Capcom, and offered to me for review. I accepted.
NOTE: This isn’t my only review for this site. I recommend you read my review on City of Brass if you want a shorter review from me.
