Our preview of MediEvil celebrates now after Crash Bandicoot and Spyro Another PlayStation classic from the 1990s is making a comeback. The action-adventure game undoubtedly has cult status, but after receiving a re-imaging on the PlayStation Portable in 2005, it disappeared into obscurity for a long time. Now, developer Other Ocean Interactive has... MediEvil Unearthed and polished. We'll tell you whether this old ham is still palatable today or has become inedible.
MediEvil It tells the story of Sir Daniel Fortesque, a knight from the fantasy realm of Gallowmere. He is pierced by arrows and felled in battle against the forces of the evil sorcerer Zarok. Years after his death, he returns to life through magic – more or less. Sir Daniel is now just a skeleton in an old suit of armor. But that doesn't stop him from confronting Zarok and his sinister minions once again.
Who visites MediEvil Anyone who played the original on PlayStation back then will probably know exactly what to expect. The gameplay of this remake remains faithful to the original. Essentially, we traverse a variety of fairly manageable levels, completing them by fulfilling certain conditions and occasionally defeating a boss. Sometimes we have to overcome traps, sometimes solve puzzles, and sometimes free possessed townspeople from their misery. The individual sections are, for the most part, very entertaining, even if not always particularly creative. Each one contains an optional bonus item that we can exchange for useful items in the Hall of Heroes.
As is typical for the genre, it's not just a matter of a bit of puzzle-solving and platforming. Combat also plays a crucial role. We encounter a whole host of nasty characters and creatures who would love nothing more than to send our bones back to the ground. The combat controls are quite basic: depending on the weapon, we have a light and a heavy attack. We can also charge up the latter to unleash a powerful attack. We also acquire a shield as the game progresses, which we can use to protect ourselves and dash forward to dodge or tackle enemies. Gradually, our arsenal expands to include a variety of different melee and ranged weapons.
As simple as the controls may be, the combat isn't easy – especially in the later sections. At times, it even feels downright unfair. The attacks are imprecise, the collision detection unreliable, there's no hit feedback, and you never really feel like you're in control. In practice, this translates to running around wildly, trying to avoid being hit (or rather, touched by the enemy), and waving your sword aimlessly in the air, hoping to hit something. This didn't seem particularly well-designed even back in 1998 – and if you take off all rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, it's downright irritating. On top of that, the camera is just as terrible as in the original, which means you regularly lose your bearings in tight spaces. It would have been nice if the developers had at least ironed out this one flaw from the original version.
Even if that MediEvilWhile the remake carries some gameplay baggage, it also highlights how much has changed technically in the last 21 years: Graphically, the game has received a facelift that is truly impressive. The characters and environments are beautifully designed without straying too far stylistically from the original. MediEvil It already had a slight Tim Burton vibe back in the PS1 days, which really comes to the fore now. PlayStation 4 Pro owners can also look forward to a higher resolution – even if MediEvil It doesn't appear to run in native 4K. Incidentally, even the dialogue, sound design, and orchestral soundtrack have been completely modernized. The movement animations, however, look somewhat dated – here too, the developers have adhered strictly to the original.
We didn't encounter any truly serious bugs during our playthrough. However, in a few places, especially near chasms or certain walls, the main character would briefly get stuck in the jumping animation and become uncontrollable. The developers may have fixed this, though, as the game comes with a very extensive Day One Patch at the start. However, we cannot determine at the time of this review which adjustments the developers have made.
