GHOSTS AND GOBLINS was one of those old school games that older players fondly remember. It was an addictive game that was impossible but fun, with countless numbers of, well, ghosts an goblins coming out of the ground and hopefully into your swinging weapon. Now, if you ask Capcom about MAXIMO, they'll tell you that it isn't a follow-up to what many people think of as a classic. However, they both have some rather peculiar similarities, besides the common traits of being fun and, well, ALMOST impossible.
Maximo is a story about a king of the very same name with control over a mighty kingdom. Everything was going right, with a gorgeous girl named Sophia directly in line for marriage. However, Achille, his closest friend and advisor, seems to have been practicing some major necromancy as a side job. Achille gets a hold of great power, a power so mighty that he turns the entire land into a world of death and even manages to kill Maximo. However, even though it seems as if it is all over (death is usually like that), Maximo still has a chance. You see, Achille's power logically enveloped that of the Spirit of Death. Now, the Grim Reaper wants back what was stolen from him, and after hearing Maximo say, "There are scarier things than death," he uses his remaining death skills to send Maximo back to the land of the living to stop Achille. As added motivation for Maximo, Achille decided to fool around with Sophia since Maximo has apparently bit the dust.
What's this? A platformer with an interesting storyline? Amen to that. And while the story line for MAXIMO isn't going to win any awards, it is certainly worth playing to the end. Without giving away an spoilers, the aforementioned sentence is worth repeating: It is certainly worth playing to the end!
But having an above-average plot is only where MAXIMO starts to bend the stereotypical idea of a platformer. The combat system completely breaks such ideas. Even the first JAK and DAXTER falls into the typical one-strike-and-you’re-dead combat against cute and dumb enemies. MAXIMO actually play more like ONIMUSHA: WARLORDS; no butt slams or head butts here. Maximo is a king-knight equipped with a sword and shield. He starts off knowing a nasty horizontal slash, balanced with a downward thrust meant to split someone between the eyes. After making a double jump in the air, he can come down with his full weight behind his sword, a terror for all below.
The offensive techniques get even better. Maximo has the ability to learn more techniques as he goes along. Among the vast list are important basics like having a longer blade, useful moves like a shockwave that reveals buried treasure, or off-the-wall abilities like being morphed into a sorrowful, vengeful demon that obliterates enemies with just a touch.
Defensively speaking, a shield is a basic yet important first step. However, even this can be strengthened into a gold model, charged with electricity, or made to repel an opponent with an arctic wind. It can even be thrown and bounced off walls to strike an enemy from afar or magnetically grip treasures and come back to you.
The second part of your defense comes in the form of your body armor. Maximo starts out with sturdy-looking suit of steel, represented as two defensive units. So then, what is one defensive unit? Well, Maximo is so determined to get everything back that he'll even fight in his boxers—a direct reference to the original GHOSTS AND GOBLINS. However, you do have the opportunity to increase your armor to three or even four units of strength, where you'll look like a chief of a Roman style.
None of this makes sense though, and may seem like unnecessary glitter, if you don't include an understanding of your enemies. Maximo has a very deep repertoire of offensive and defensive techniques because, well, the enemies are so HARD. The enemies are only the first reason why this game is very difficult, because they are fast, intelligent, and varied. From the very start of the game, you realize that these undead freaks REALLY want to kill you...again. Big-headed skeletons come out of the ground at your feet and if you don't have your sword coming down at that moment, you will be pummeled. That will take away one whole armor unit, and since you can only have four at most, you need to get fighting or your death will be quick. And let it be know that it is so easy to die against these enemies, for they come at you in so many different ways and styles. Besides the legion of skeleton warriors, who also carry sword and shield and will often block your attacks, there are ghosts who grab you and try to throw you off of cliffs. Zombies break out of coffins and approach you with a limp, moaning all the way, while minotaurs will come out of nowhere with a lightning fast charge. There are even wizards who pop out of treasure chests and can enchant you into a creaking old man or a whining baby!
And then, when you think that the game could not get any harder, the very levels themselves are major challenge. It is strange how, in the very first level, it is so easy to die because the ground just has a habit of opening up beneath your feet. All too often, creepy totem poles will come out of the ground and spit flaming skulls at you, skulls that bounce with a quickness. While enemies charge in from all sides, it is often so that one slip in the wrong direction will send you into boiling lava or a swamp full of bumpy, carnivorous tongues. In the 2D days, you can die by making a bad jump or slipping forwards or backwards. When you add one more dimension to the mix, it gets really testy.
There are five main levels, all of which are composed of four or five sub-levels. Getting to the next level isn't as simple as defeating one and moving on. Believe it or not, you actually have to slash and journey your way to find the next sub-level within these larger main levels! At the end of these main levels are bosses that are rather easy to beat compared to what you must do to get to them.
But the appearance of MAXIMO's levels themselves makes it all worth while. These levels are not only beautiful—with wonderful water and mist effects, realistic looking fire, wood and stone structures, and colorful detail—they are of genius design. If you have an eye for such things, you will be amazed by how the levels are arranged. As you fight through hilly graveyards, steaming swamps, mountain peaks, bubbling tar-pits, ice-worlds, and old, sinking pirate ships, you will not feel as if you are in a platformer. This game feels like a real kingdom gone bad. There are, however, little coins and such things floating around to remind you of what genre you are in, coins which you are happy to gather because it costs a considerable amount of money just to save your game. No, really. Coins and other treasure are all throughout the levels, some obvious and some hidden. The perfectionist will be tortured, because at the end of each level you are shown exactly how much of the level you truly completed.
The music and sound effects add to the adventurous mood of the game. Even the mode select screen has a Scooby-Doo like theme that will stay in your head. The in-game music, however, is generally very serious sounding and of cinematic, Indiana Jones like quality. When you swing your sword, a different sound will result depending on what it has connected with. Hit a castle wall, then you hear a clang. Hit wood, you hear a clunk. Hit stone and it breaks, and you hear a crumble. Hit a skeleton(and that's what you really want to do), and you hear the shattering of bones. There is much more to be said of the many, many different sound effects that all come together to really create a great game environment.
With all of the different attributes listed above, it wouldn't be the gameplay that can make and break it all. It's a good thing, then, that the gameplay does not disappoint. Not at all. Maximo's movements are quite fluid and he will do whatever you tell him to do and to the second. Double-jumping in two different directions is impossible in reality, but if a game allows you to do it so well, why not? The enemies may be fast, but so is Maximo. A skilled gamer shouldn't complain about the game's difficulty because within Maximo is the potential to rise above it. R1 allows you to look all around you at first-person. L1 snaps the camera into a forward position, no matter what. Last but not least, there is absolutely no slow down, though Maximo and his enemies look so very sharp.
As we've seen with the likes of STRIDER, CONTRA, STREET FIGHTER, and other franchises, it is difficult to turn a legendary 2D game into a 3D one of the same status. MAXIMO, though, has done just that, bringing the old-school gaming feel into the modern generation. If you play platformers, you absolutely must buy this game. Meanwhile, watch as Maximo cuts the generic "jump and run" genre right in half.
(For those who like difficult games, add a point to the rating.)
