ctn001's Full Review: Maximo: Ghosts to Glory for PlayStation 2
Our story begins with brave Maximo returning from a war. To his surprise, when he returns he notices his kingdom is not the way he remembered. Skeletons, zombies, and other undead freaks are now roaming his land. To make matters worst, Achille has stolen Maximo's girl and even kills Maximo the moment he returns. Talk about your bad days because this guy Maximo has the worst day anyone could possible have.
With all hell breaking loose for Maximo, his new friend Grim allows Maximo to return to the living world to get Achille back and to restore both the underworld and Maximo's kingdom. Sounds easy enough but it's easier said than done. Maximo will have to battle his way through the undead and battle bosses as he heads toward Achille's castle. So is this game any good and worth your time?
Maximo is a very basic and old school game. This game is so easy it will take you only a minute to pretty much master the controls. The main point of this game is to run, slash, open doors, open treasure chest, and clear the stages. There isn't a whole lot more to do in this game, but don't let that fool you. This is a fun and very entertaining game.
The game play. The camera is set behind Maximo and you have a quarterback view of Maximo. You run and slash all enemies that stand in your way and try to make it to the end of the level. Along the way you can learn new abilities by picking up skill icons that the enemy drops. This a great feature because you can customize Maximo to a style you prefer. You can make Maximo an in your face character by locking in close combat skills or you can make him a long distance fighter by locking in only projectile attacks. There are more combinations that you can make because it all depends on what type of gamer you are. The lock ability is a small gold sphere grid that allows you to change moves around as Maximo learns moves. You can gain tons of moves, but you can only save a certain amount. The moment you die, you will lose all your moves not locked in the sphere grid.
Another feature to Maximo is the interesting save and continue feature. In other games continues are free, but not in Maximo. "Nothing is free" in Maximo and you have to pay to continue and saves. As you play through the levels, you have to gather a hundred gold "koins" just to save your progress. To gain a continue, you have to collect fifty spirits and return it to grim to gain a death koin. A death koin is the only currency that grim takes and without it your screwed. Sounds easy enough, but there is a catch to the continue system. Every time you continue, grim jacks up the price by one koin. This will get to a point where it will be impossible to continue if you keep on dying.
The battle system behind Maximo is what gamers want; a challenging, but not a impossible fight. This is what Maximo delivers to the gamers in this game. Your enemies range from bare skeletons to skeletons with armor and shield. The ones with the shield will block your attacks and even counter you if you miss. So don't expect to mow through because the enemy is not stupid. Also, every world has a boss that you must defeat in order to continue to the next world. These bosses are very easy if you discover their weak points and provide little challenge to the game. Amazingly the regular enemies are a lot tougher.
The world system. The world system in not like a world at all. This is not Final Fantasy or an RPG at all. The world system is like an arena where you must beat the sub levels in the world to fight the boss. Each world has four levels that are pretty long and will give you a challenge. There are five worlds with four levels each so this is a pretty long game.
I've explained the gameplay, but now it's time to hit where this game falls. The camera angles are sometimes the reason you die. I mention this was a platform game so there is a lot of parts where you must jump from platform to platform. So look before you leap by always changing the camera so it's behind Maximo. (Or you'll find yourself walking off cliffs like I did.) This isn't that bad, but it the camera can get locked if your near a wall which will make you frustrated when you fighting. The camera is the only thing that hurts the score.
The sound. The game has good voice acting, but this isn't something to shout about. The sound of clashing swords and effects are good and the music is great. The music is a remake from the classic Ghouls n Ghosts series so you'll enjoy these tunes.
The graphics. The graphics are great with very detailed levels and characters. The levels are well drawn and there are some cool effects that scream out of the game.
The cartoons characters are well done and every character shows a lot of emotion. The classic cartoon style game like Jax and Daxter.
The overall. The game is a good old school game that gamers of all ages will enjoy. The game play is solid, the sound is great, and the vast amount of secrets and moves make this game a definite winner. This a great game, but the lack or replay value makes this game a definite rental. If you truely enjoy the game style then you should purchase this game the moment it is released.
Video Games. Bringing new life to a classic theme, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory is a 3D action-adventure inspired by Capcom's memorable Ghosts 'n Goblins, ...More at DeepDiscount.com
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