Ghosts N' Goblins

Back in the good old NES days when I was just a young lad, a little game called Ghosts n’ Goblins rocked my grade-school world. The game was tougher than diamond nails, pitting you against hordes of zombies, demons, otherworldly creatures and extremely tough bosses all before making you play through the entire thing AGAIN just to fight the last boss and save the princess. However, it was a blast, and now gamers can relive the magic on their cell-phones. Graphically, the game has been souped up a little bit, with touched up sprites and more detailed backgrounds. However, the gameplay remains largely untouched, meaning that gamers who missed out on the original Ghosts n’ Goblins are in for a treat. A very hard, tooth-shattering treat.

Ghosts n’ Goblins puts you in the shoes (er, metal boots) of Arthur, a knight in a far away kingdom who must fight to rescue his love from the forces of evil through a variety of different levels and tons of nasty monsters and enemies. Along the way, you gain different weapons starting with the lance and pick up torches, knives and others as you progress.

One of the things that make the game so difficult aside from the copious amounts of foes thrust in your path is the fact that you can only take two hits before your dead. You start out in a full suit of armor, and if an enemy smacks you, your armor gets completely knocked off and you are forced to run around in your skivvies until you either find another suit of armor lying around or die.

The controls are fairly good, but there are some rough spots. You fire off a number of shots each time you hit the firing button, depending on the weapon you currently have. The controls are largely responsive, reacting well whenever you move Arthur. However, the jumping is very spotty. It’s done with the “1” and “3” keys, and hops you in a direction no matter what. This can be a HUGE pain during certain platforming sections.

As I said earlier, Ghosts n’ Goblins makes some modest improvements graphically over the original NES game. The sprites are a bit more colorful, as are the backgrounds. However, the animations do look pretty choppy, especially when Arthur runs, an exercise that reminds me of Gumby sliding across the floor on one foot. The music is about right there with the NES game, if a bit less “bleepy and bloopy”.

Ghosts n’ Goblins is a fun game, albeit an extraordinarily difficult one. However, if you’re looking for a good challenge on your cell-phone, the Ghosts n’ Goblins is certainly worth a good, long nostalgic look.

Gameplay: 7.5
Ghosts n’ Goblins is a fun and engaging platformer that doesn’t spare any of the compelling elements from the original. While the jumping portions can be unnecessarily frustrating, the game is pretty much just as fun as you remember it.

Graphics: 7.0
A few slight graphical improvements, but nothing too major. Some awkward animations, however.

Sound: 7.0
While the sound has been cleaned up a bit and much less “8-bit”, it sounds like it did nearly 20 years ago. Man, I’m old.

Difficulty:  (Very) Hard

Concept: 7.5
Aside from some frustrating jumping puzzles, this is a pretty good port of a classic game.

Overall: 7.5
Ghosts n’ Goblins is a classic from the olden days ported nicely to mobile phones. While there are some frustrating control problems, anyone looking for an engaging and very difficult game for their phone would do well to check this one out.