77 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
77 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
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GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS
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Sega's cartridge for the Genesis game system, GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS, is everything
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the Nintendo version (GHOSTS 'N' GOBLINS) is not. It's addictive, graphically
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and aurally stunning, and a near-perfect replica of the celebrated arcade game.
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In fact, it's arguably the best game released so far for the Genesis, making the
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price of the Genesis justifiable. It's truly an arcade-quality game.
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You play Sir Arthur on a mission to defeat the Prince of Darkness and,
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consequently, rescue your girlfriend the Princess (presumably _not_ the Princess
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of Darkness!). The Prince, in addition to his abduction of the fair lady, has
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besieged the land with a plethora of monstrosities: skeletal Grim Reapers,
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skull-spitting plants, beckoning tentacles from the Underworld, flame creatures,
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whirling dervishes, statues with immense undulating tongues, and more.
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The world itself seems to conspire to make your job impossible: Earthquakes
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tear the ground apart; thunder, rain and wind slow you down; shifting sands
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threaten to engulf you; and so on. Your only protection against this onslaught
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are your brittle armor (which will break from a single touch of an enemy,
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leaving you to run through the game in your boxer shorts), and a solitary
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weapon. Although there are six different possible weapons, you can only carry
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one at a time. And you may find it's not the best weapon to defeat the creature
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you're battling at the moment.
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Once you're reduced to your boxer shorts, one more touch will kill you.
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Fortunately, there are treasure chests scattered throughout the game. Each chest
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contains either a demon (who will turn you, temporarily, into either a hobbling
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old man or -- get this -- a _duck_), or an object. The objects are either armor
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or weapons. If you come across armor when you're already wearing some, the armor
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you pick up will give your weapon magical properties. The magic requires a
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three-second power-up, which means that it won't be of help to you if you're in
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a tight spot. Fortunately, you can "build up" the magic, and hold it in while
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you run and jump for a distance.
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The weapons you come across are basic sword, magical sword, axe, dagger, fire
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water, and "discus" (sort of a razor-edged frisbee). The basic sword and dagger
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can be thrown in quantity; the dagger flies the farthest. The axe and discus are
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slower to throw, but do a lot of damage. The magical sword is extremely
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powerful, but can't be thrown at all: It must be used in hand-to-hand combat.
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And the firewater creates a destructive streak of blue fire along the ground --
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harmless to you.
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At the end of each of the five levels (at least, five is the number they want
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you to think!) is a boss monster. Some of the boss monsters can only be kill
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with one of the six weapons, and it'll take you some time to figure out which
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weapon is the one you need. Fortunately, most can be killed with more than one
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of the weapons. Incidentally, the only time I noticed any flickering in this
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game was when one of the boss monsters was exploding or otherwise succumbing to
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my greater skill.
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One wonderful feature: unlimited continues, whether you're playing the Practice
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mode or the Professional mode. Professional mode is supposedly as difficult as
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the arcade version; the beasts are tougher and more plentiful. Other features:
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two- (alternating) player mode -- despite the incorrect information on the back
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of the box; sound effect tests; music tests; and the ability to turn off
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diagonal movement (not a very useful option, in my opinion). The manual shows
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some screen shots that were obviously changed since the publication of the game,
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because they talk about options that don't exist. Like so many others, this
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manual rates a "D" for Downright Poor.
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The graphics are amazing. The screens scroll upwards, downwards, sideways,
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diagonally, up-and-down, and all over. Backgrounds and foregrounds move
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independently, giving a cool 3-D effect that Genesis does to perfection. The
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storms are particularly well done, as are the earthquakes. The sound effects and
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music are just as terrific. The music sounds like a harpsichord, sinister and
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silly all at the same time. The sound effects are powerful and some are
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incredibly realistic (especially the clank of the guillotine blades).
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GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS is a must-have for all Genesis owners. And if you've only
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seen the Nintendo version, you might want to avoid ever looking at the Genes
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GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS: You may never turn on your Nintendo again.
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GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS is published and distributed by Sega, Inc.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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