Blades of Vengeance (MD, 1993)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-6.5 Challenge-8 Story-5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5/7* Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
*2-player
+
Some exploration elements (alternate paths, locked doors which you need to find keys for, hidden items (money, healing, magic, potions) and paths)
Shop system (buy items and new gear between levels)
Strong/slow and weak/fast attacks
Can attack upwards and block enemy attacks
Good jump controls
Fairly frequent checkpoints
Not using items is rewarded with points
Decent bosses overall (some with multiple phases)
Hidden level select room at the end of the first level (also gives you a bunch of treasure)
Melee attacking when close to an enemy does more damage to it?
Armor upgrades are shown on the character sprites
Three different playable characters (amazon, barbarian, sorcerer)
2-player co-op
+/-
Need to pause to be able to look around (avoiding leaps of faith)
Need to crouch to block (means crouching cancels your attack which can be annoying)
Blocking makes you ethereal to most enemies instead of actually blocking them (looks bad and takes some getting used to since they can move right through you)
Fairly long knockback from hits
Sometimes unfitting music (bouncy electro/euro disco)
Can't jump down through platforms which can be jumped up through
Some blood
Individual pausing in 2-player (the pausing player's character is invincible during it)
-
No continues to begin with (you can gain one credit per 75k points, however you lose your inventory items after using one so it's very hard to keep going later on)
Some control issues (can't block during invincibility time, can't jump out of a crouching position or an attack move, fairly long delay when trying to grab a ladder in mid-air)
Trial & error (some leaps of faith (despite being able to look up/down), sometimes cheap enemy spawn points (surprise attacks), boss patterns, figuring out what the star/sparkle power up does)
Somewhat slow paced (no dodge or run move, some delay when attacking, somewhat slow jumping, can't keep attacking some enemies due to either invincibility time or short knockback from your attacks)
Can't buy new armor or weapons until the fourth level?
Repetitive
Points of no return (can't move back to a previous area in a level, sometimes can't move back in an area at all; sometimes not without taking damage) - annoying when you know that you've missed some treasure
Fall damage (you also get stunned for a second) - annoying considering all the leaps of faith
Some safe spots (when attacking enemies from below)
No difficulty options (however there's a hidden stash/stage select room)
Poor camera in 2-player mode (invisible walls some ways from the edges of the screen to try to keep the players together, if one player falls (or uses an elevator to go) off screen then control over their character is lost until the other player moves up to him/her and he/she presses start)
Sometimes poor sfx
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5/7* Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
*2-player
+
Some exploration elements (alternate paths, locked doors which you need to find keys for, hidden items (money, healing, magic, potions) and paths)
Shop system (buy items and new gear between levels)
Strong/slow and weak/fast attacks
Can attack upwards and block enemy attacks
Good jump controls
Fairly frequent checkpoints
Not using items is rewarded with points
Decent bosses overall (some with multiple phases)
Hidden level select room at the end of the first level (also gives you a bunch of treasure)
Melee attacking when close to an enemy does more damage to it?
Armor upgrades are shown on the character sprites
Three different playable characters (amazon, barbarian, sorcerer)
2-player co-op
+/-
Need to pause to be able to look around (avoiding leaps of faith)
Need to crouch to block (means crouching cancels your attack which can be annoying)
Blocking makes you ethereal to most enemies instead of actually blocking them (looks bad and takes some getting used to since they can move right through you)
Fairly long knockback from hits
Sometimes unfitting music (bouncy electro/euro disco)
Can't jump down through platforms which can be jumped up through
Some blood
Individual pausing in 2-player (the pausing player's character is invincible during it)
-
No continues to begin with (you can gain one credit per 75k points, however you lose your inventory items after using one so it's very hard to keep going later on)
Some control issues (can't block during invincibility time, can't jump out of a crouching position or an attack move, fairly long delay when trying to grab a ladder in mid-air)
Trial & error (some leaps of faith (despite being able to look up/down), sometimes cheap enemy spawn points (surprise attacks), boss patterns, figuring out what the star/sparkle power up does)
Somewhat slow paced (no dodge or run move, some delay when attacking, somewhat slow jumping, can't keep attacking some enemies due to either invincibility time or short knockback from your attacks)
Can't buy new armor or weapons until the fourth level?
Repetitive
Points of no return (can't move back to a previous area in a level, sometimes can't move back in an area at all; sometimes not without taking damage) - annoying when you know that you've missed some treasure
Fall damage (you also get stunned for a second) - annoying considering all the leaps of faith
Some safe spots (when attacking enemies from below)
No difficulty options (however there's a hidden stash/stage select room)
Poor camera in 2-player mode (invisible walls some ways from the edges of the screen to try to keep the players together, if one player falls (or uses an elevator to go) off screen then control over their character is lost until the other player moves up to him/her and he/she presses start)
Sometimes poor sfx