Have you ever written off a game as a complete knock off before giving it a chance, assuming it was a subpar rehash of a popular game made for a quick buck? At first glance, this is how I felt about Cursed Castilla EX, which at a glance looks very similar to Ghosts ‘n Goblins. It features a short protagonist suited in armor that throws lances and other medieval weaponry at zombies and the like. After spending a bit of time with it, I can assure you it’s no carbon copy.

Without much exposition, you’ll be set loose into the game world to battle zombies, giant two headed vultures, ogres and other creatures from Spanish myths. There is a decent variety of enemies, bosses, and backdrops that you will come across in your quest to stop the evil creatures from attacking your kingdom. It was nice to see a number of unique enemies that were not just color swaps, which was expected in the early days of the platformer genre.

The only issue with the presentation was that most of the normal enemies you face are either slow moving, limited to a small number of attacks, or dumber than a sack full of bricks. This makes the content between bosses feel slightly like filler. Once you’ve learned how to deal with a particular enemy’s attacks, the game becomes a breeze. That is, until you reach the next boss fight.

While some of the ultimate fights end up being high points of the game, there are a few that are particularly frustrating. With one fight, despite being able to defeat the enemy without losing health, I would die immediately after because I would fall off of a platform that still moved while I was stuck midair for the boss’ death animation. This didn’t ruin the experience, but it did cause me to use a number of continues, which are unlimited. With little impact to the game aside from affecting what ending you get and a complete loss of your score, there isn’t a penalty for continuing.

The controls are fairly responsive, so with the exception of the battle above, each death feels fair and made me want to give it another try. Not only will you throw weapons left and right, you can shoot straight up, which was missing in Ghosts ‘n Golblins and is a welcome upgrade. You will also come across chests, which feature weapon and ability upgrades. These upgrades will stay with your character until death or you choose to replace them with a new ability. I found most of these helpful and never ran into anything that made me want to die just to the wipe the ability.

The game is fairly lengthy for this genre, with a perfect run clocking in around an hour. My initial playthrough took approximately four hours. Featuring 4 endings based off of in-game achievements, there is quite a bit of replayability here. With that being said, I would recommend purchasing the title if you’re looking for some side scrolling monster slaying.

7 out of 10

Pros

• Unique Character Designs
• Responsive Controls
• Accessible
• Loads of Replayability

Cons

• Some Frustrating Boss Battles

Cursed Castilla EX was developed by Locomalito in conjunction with Gryzor87 and published by Abylight Studios. It was released on X1 July 16th, 2016, PC on October 20th, 2016, PS4 on December 16th, 2016, 3DS on July 13th, 2017, and PS Vita November 9th, 2017 for $11.99. The game was provided to us for review on X1. For more on Cursed Castilla EX, visit its official site.

 

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