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For me, games come in two categories. Stereotyping aside, there are the “mother†type games – the games that want you to enjoy yourself, do everything for you, and give you a big warm hug when you finish the game, followed by a nice cup of tea and a Sunday dinner. Then there’s the “father†games – the games that make you learn the hard way, give you no help when you can’t do something, and leave you weeping uncontrollably in the corner of your room when something can’t be achieved. Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins is most definitely, uncategorically, without a shadow of any doubt on this planet; a father game.
As you’ve probably established by now from my useful analogy, Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins is hard. In fact, it’s widely regarded as one of the hardest games ever to be released on the NES, and you probably wouldn’t be shot down in flames if you said that it’s also one of the hardest games on the PSP too. You’ll come to understand quickly that in this particular case, “hard†doesn’t translate to “not enjoyableâ€ÂÂ.
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Fear not though, as Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins is probably the most forgiving of the titles in the series. If you play the game in Standard Mode, you’ll be resurrected on the spot and you’re armour can take a lot more hits than it could in the original. There’s also the Ultimate mode, which ironically isn’t ultimate at all, because this is how the original game used to be. This is the mode for all you masochistic gamers who have never played the original (which should be issued with a health and safety warning).
It’s also the first foray into a quasi-3D platform game for the series. It’s a bit of an overstatement really, because the only time that you recognise that the game is in 3D is in times that you aren’t in control, while the rest of the time the game is fully flat. There has been a noticeable improvement in graphics however, and all those bright colours that the game uses are really vivid on the PSP’s screen. It’s a very pretty platformer indeed.
Gameplay-wise, Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins plays out in a pretty similar way to the old school platformers. There’s a button for jump, a button for fire, and that’s your lot. You can collect upgradeable armour and weapons by the little floating icons on the screen, which give you more lives and firepower respectively. It is very heavily knocking on the shooter fence whilst gently leaning over to the platformer’s side – and it’s better to think of this as a Metal Slug style platformer rather than a dextrous finger tester like Prince of Persia’s original 2D versions. Progression takes place by reaching the end of the level alive, and then you move up to another world. Once you get to the very last world, you’ll naturally fight the end boss. I’ll tell you now; if you haven’t broken your PSP in frustration by the time you get to the end boss, you’ll most definitely break it after the “ending†of the game. The constant barrage of enemies and shooting obviously does start to grate after a while, as each level is the same as the last but with more enemies and different artwork plastered to the background. You’ll either quickly get bored of the repetitiveness of shooting a million enemies, or you’ll relish the challenge of a tough game.
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