Clash at Demonhead
Reviewed by Bowser1823@aol.com
A game nearly no one (that I know of) played, a game that combined rpg
elements and lots of action together and mashed it together into a very good
game. The game had it all, flying, diving, selling gold, buying power ups, and
using magic force. Yes, this is the game that had tough bosses. Lots of chit
chat between a bunch of characters including every single boss. Well here goes.
Graphics 7 out of 10
The graphics were good for a NES game. The main character "Bang" was
done nicely, some of the bosses were impressive, like one of the bosses
starts out small and looks graphically inferior, but as you shoot him he gets
bigger and bigger until he looks like a powerful DEMON! Very cool I might
add. The bosses were always bigger than "Bang", some were slightly bigger,
others were huge (the one that gets bigger as you shoot him). When you talk
with the other characters (bosses, friends, former friends, strangers) the
view changes to a "talk time" view and the characters look sort of like Japanese
anime, very well done. Depending on what they say during the talk the
character whether it be "Bang" or other characters the facial expressions
of the characters change, cool! (for a NES game anyway.) One problem
maybe that the bullets of almost all of the characters look exactly the same
and all of them have the same strength regardless if they are normal enemies
or bosses! If the boss does fire bullets they fire a lot I mean a lot! Trying to
avoid them is almost impossible. Also, one type of enemy changes its face
if you change your suit.
Music and Sound 7 out of 10
The sound was OK. It had small sounds such as the sound of the normal Gun
will get monotonous since you will fire it very, very, much. Believe me.
Depending on what gun you use (rolling star, power ball, or Big Bang) the
sound will change. The diving sound of when you dive into water or lava
will stay the same if you jump in normally or use the great diving gear
(And life saver. The sound of the jets of the jetpack are good. There aren't
many different sounds in this game but I guess its OK considering the small
sizes of cartridge at the time and that the game was big enough as it is!
The music was very monotonous! Almost the same music would play every
time you play, Normal game music would come on a normal route (that's right
the game has routes not levels) But different music would come on a level
that has a secret. The music in the caves was good. The boss music was
especially good. The boss music would be the same against all bosses
except two. The last boss (who was incredibly easy) and the evil Demon (not
the one who got bigger every time you shoot him, he was a normal boss)
music was different. The last boss music was good but the evil demon music
was very cool! The reason the evil demon had different was because the evil
demon provided the plot twist in the game and he was the most powerful of
all bosses (more powerful than the last boss who was as powerful as a normal
one) he was the most powerful because if you went against him without the
sword of apollo he would immediately kill you with one hit and you can't kill
him but with the sword you can hurt him but he will take half of your energy
instead of all of it (where as normal bosses will take one bar of your energy
with one hit).
Game Challenge 10 out of 10
This is where the game excels the most. This game is very challenging. As
I already mentioned that the game has routed instead of levels where you
can go back to the other route, to explain the route system lets say for
example after you finish route 1 (which is one way) you get a choice of
routes 2, 3, 4, and 1 (You pick one to go back) if you pick 4 then you have choices
of route 4 and other routes like that. Anyway if a character at route 3 tells you
to go to route 17, just getting to route 17 is a major hassle! And going to route
17 is something you do in the beginning of the game! The bosses are hard not
because of the damage they give you (which is not a lot, except the Evil Demon).
But because of how to figure out their weak spot or how many hits they get in
one turn, for example one boss Bopper continually shoots weak bullets but shoots
so many that you can die in a matter of seconds. But bosses also fire fireballs
(the dragon type boss) which is very very difficult to dodge.
Game Play-Fun 10 out of 10
This game is very fun! In figuring out the puzzles in beating enemies,
heck even buying a Item is fun! When you buy a jet pack you can fly as
long as your jet-pack has fuel. Flying is very fun! You can completely skip
a route when you use it, although the jet-pack is a little bit expensive at
$8,000. It isn't the most expensive thing, because the super suit is coming
in at $9,990! The super suit makes you invincible as long as it lasts and
enable you to climb ice walls and swim in lava. The aqua lung enables you
to swim in water very fast and without running out of air. The special
powers the hermit gives you are very fun like micro power, levitation,
traveling to routes you already passed, getting all your energy back, and
Karate power which makes you invincible and when you attack you do a
karate kick.
Frustration
The frustration was only when you can't beat the bosses or couldn't get on
the flying platforms when you don't have enough money to buy a jet-pack.
Those single headed enemies that fly in circles. When you accidently used
all your shop calls. Sop calls allow you to call a shop and you can only carry
three calls at a time, its the only way you can get to the store, In the store
you can buy shop calls but if you forget.
Replayability 2 out of 10
This game isn't really replayable, after you beat it you beat it. Maybe
you would want to see if you incorrectly placed the royal medallions in the
bomb and let the world blow up but you just see the screen... (sorry you
have to see for yourself)
Game Value 10 out of 10
This great game is worth every bit its price! When I got this game I
never beat one boss (How embarrassing even though I was 5) when I
got older I decided to play it again and I beat it because guess what, I
discovered the bosses weakness, and found a hidden normal boss which
if I didn't fight I couldn't beat the game. So remember to dive under water
at all times, you may never know what you are going to get.
Overall 8 out of 10
In conclusion this game is very good except a few sound limitations and
frustrating of flying platforms. Get this game if you like rpg, action,
adventure and lots of talking.