Review #597: Medievil

 I prefer it fullievil.

 MediEvil is a franchise I never spent too much time with. I used to have a bootleg Medievil 2 disc that would start you off with everything unlocked, I think, and what little I played was very lame. 10 or so years later, I find myself with an original copy of the first game, and boy, was it a doozy.

 You play as the recently revived Dan Fortesque, a fallen hero from a war hundreds of years past. Except that he wasn't really a hero, he died upon the first volley of arrows, but story remembered him otherwise. Now Dan, revived by forces of evil, is offered a second chance at proving his worth as a hero by stopping the very same necromancer that brought him back to life. The game is big on humor, past heroes are willing to offer Dan a hand, if he brings them a Chalice, but that doesn't stop them from making fun of him! Personally, while I wasn't laughing out loud, I did find the humor endearing. On the other hand, the game looks fantastic, environments and monsters look pretty great for a PS1 game.

 Medievil is the perfect mix of combat and adventure, still, the emphasis is clearly on the combat, as puzzles aren't very frequent nor very complex. Levels are fairly easy to figure out, but it's in your best interest to find each Chalice, one per level. Most chalices are hidden in every level, some in plain sight, but can only be picked up after slaying a certain amount of enemies. These Chalices are tantamount to your survival, as every Chalice collected will give you a reward: This is how you'll be getting better equipment throughout your adventure. That said, not all rewards are worth it, as some are simply gold or healing items, but most of the time it'll be a new weapon.

 You'll have to get used to Sir Dan's movement before you'll really enjoy the game. This game was released when Analog sticks on the Ps1 were still fairly new, so Dan's movement is very loose and slippery, it takes a while to get used to it, but it can be done. Combat is very loose as well, most weapons have two different attacks(A X combo attack and a special Square attack) but attacks feel as if they go all over the place. You will take damage pretty frequently when dealing with more than one enemy, but the game is pretty generous with healing sources, so it's alright. The game's biggest issue comes in the form of water, the camera can be hard to twist around with the L2 and R2 buttons, as sometimes it will refuse to spin, coupled with the slippery movement... it can make platforming over deadly water a bit tough!

 Hidden throughout the game are Life Bottles that will grant you an additional life bar, for a total of 10, so while you'll get a few undeserved deaths here and there, it evens out if you do your due diligence and explore for goodies. By the end of the game, if you've been collecting Chalices, you'll be armed with all sort of weapons: Swords, Axes, Maces, Crossbows, Daggers, etc, and while some weapons are better than others you'll be required to switch it up every now and then. Some enemies practically require you to defeat them with projectile weapons, hopefully you are stocked up(Otherwise, find a merchant to restock your supplies!), some obstacles must be smashed to smithereens with the hammer, and, sometimes, you'll have to set your club on fire to light torches. It's a surprising amount of variety for a PS1 game!

 The game is 20 levels long, and it's a blast to play. The Chalice system makes it so that, potentially, every level will reward you with something new, so there's something pushing you to get that 100%, beyond the True Ending.The game should take about six hours, give or take, and you might find yourself replaying stages if you missed a few enemies for your Chalice collection.

 After playing through MediEvil 1 I can easily appreciate why it's considered a Ps1 classic. The game is worth every penny and has aged relatively well. Definitely worth a try for anyone that's into old action-adventure games or horror-themed games. Getting used to Dan's movements will be the biggest hurdle, but nothing avid retrogamers can't handle.
 8.0 out of 10