Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (PlayStation 2) review "Maximo is supposedly some sort of tribute to Ghosts 'n Goblins. Unfortuntely, like Five's tribute to Queen with their 'We Will Rock You' cover, it's a bit rubbish."

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, then. Havoc is abound in Maximo's kingdom. His girlfriend has also been kidnapped by a fat wizard. Maximo does the right thing, and tries to rescue her, but, alas, he fails. He gets banished somewhere, and has to fight through 5 worlds in order to save his bit of rough. Well, we think that's what happened.

Who cares - the story isn't important. What is important, however, is this: Maximo is a 'remake' of Capcom's classic Ghosts 'n Goblins. The ghosts are there, the goblins are there, the spooky levels are there. It's quite satisfying to play one of most cherished childhood games with a new lick of paint.

Paint, indeed. The graphics are the first thing you notice about Maximo. Some undetailed backdrops and surroundings are made up for by Maximo's stunning character model. He moves like he's been swimming in butter. Boy, is it smooth. It's a joy to watch young Maximo jump, slash, and run through the obstacle ridden levels. Maximo was originally an Nintendo 64 game, so you can understand why the environments are so under whelming, but since the N64 has been dead for a year or two, and the PlayStation 2 has been out for what seems like an age, they could have spent as much time on the surroundings as they did the characters.

There are five worlds in Maximo, each with a fair few stages inside. These range from a snowy world, to a swampy one - it's all very stereotypical. While the later levels hold the most meat, many who buy this game won't get past the first, graveyard world. It's just too hard. Maximo seems to have very little actually energy, with or without armor. The enemies, if they continue to attack you, will beat you down to your underwear in a matter of minutes. It doesn't help that the camera is also fairly troublesome. Get attacked from behind by a hoard of rampaging skeletons, and you'll be near dead by the time the camera has turned to face them. Jumping from platform to platform is nightmarish, too. It should be a fun thing to do, but in Maximo, it's a chore. Jumping normally doesn't send you very far. Doing a double jump, however, sends you too far. You'll end up losing a life 3/5 times you attempt to cross the lava, which just shouldn't happen, the game is hard enough as it is.

A few hours into the game, you feel like saving the game. Except you don't know how to. There's no option on the menus, no option asking if you want to save at the end of each level - nothing. Only after each world do you get the option to save, and, if you lose all you lives on the world boss, you have to go back to the start of the game, or the start of the level. I've since learned that in each world, there's a save point, but it's hidden away, and you have to pay for it. Whatever, Capcom should have made this feature apparent in the game. You shouldn't have to trek through the manual before hand.

Despite some faults, Maximo can be extremely enjoyable to play. The old skool running, jumping, and killing genre is quite hard to come by these days, and when Maximo does it right, it does it beautifully. Slashing a group of skeletons into bits is satisfying, and is indeed reminiscent of Ghosts n' Goblins all those years ago. It's fun to play, but it's slightly let down by a tricky camera and some hellish jumping sections. If old skool is your thing, Maximo will be a breath of fresh air.

Community review by rappingshoe (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.