Cursed Castilla (Maldita Castilla EX)

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[h1] Ghouls 'n' Goblins clone that actually is pretty good. If you're looking for challenging gameplay - there you go. [/h1]

My summary: a beautifully done homage to classic 80s arcade games like Ghosts 'n Goblins or Willow, with a couple of flaws. Maldita Castilla EX is not just one of those games inspired by 80s arcade games (like the ones I mentioned), it very much plays and feels like an [b]actual[/b] 80s arcade game. It's very hard, but not from the beginning. The first few levels are actually quite easy but some of the later ones are very, very tough. You'll die a lot, and like in GnG you don't resurrect on the spot, but you have to go back to the previous checkpoint instead. But you came here because you like GnG, so you were expecting that, weren't you? And you have unlimited continues so you play, die, play again, memorize the levels, and you can eventually finish it in a few hours. The music is good and the graphics are beautifully made. I also liked that the whole story, locations, bosses, etc., are inspired by Spanish myths and legends... It's a remarkable game and I recommend it to any GnG fans, but there are two things that I didn't like. The first one is the weapon system. You start with a sword and you can change it in one of the few chests available in fixed locations in some areas. But when you open them you don't just get a random weapon. Instead, you can select any of the weapons from the game, and if you lose a single life you get the sword again. I found this mechanic quite odd, especially because in this game you die a lot so when you get a different weapon it's usually not for long. The other thing that you lose when you die is your secondary object (usually a power-up), which is more understandable, although there's a problem with that that I'll mention in the next paragraph. The other thing that I didn't like is that in order to get to the last level (and I don't mean the last boss, I mean an actual full level with several sections) you need to collect five items called Moura's Tears. Those are hidden in the previous levels, but not always in a way that you would find them by exploring every little corner. Some of them require you to perform certain non-obvious actions, so I would recommend just checking a guide. What's worse, one of the tears is located at the very end of a section where it's easy to die, but in order to get it you need an item that you can only find in the [b]previous[/b] section, so if you die you lose that item. In order to get the tear you are forced to quit the game, and from the main menu restart the whole level (not just the section with that item) from the beginning. I think this is unnecessarily frustrating, it's fine for an optional achievement for proficient players, but you actually need that in order to get to the last level (which, again, is a complete level and not just an extra boss). Anyway, the game is pretty good so I still recommend it. If you like the games that inspired it, you'll like this one too.

Отличный духовный наследник Ghosts'n Goblins, в котором слишком много мелких геймплейных огрехов У игры отличный визуал, аудио-сопровождение, хороший выдержанный сеттинг, разнообразные уровни, каждый из которых предлагает уникальные игровые ситуации, идеально вписывающиеся изменения и нововведения в геймплейный костяк GNG, но помимо адской сложности, в ней ещё и присутствует куча мелких геймплейных косяков, которых просто не должно быть в игре, требующей такой невероятной точности от действий игрока. Многие из них я заметил, пересматривая записанные реплеи своих забегов. Боссы, которые могут просто не дать вам в принципе окна защиты, если захотят(например, Мура, фаерболлы которой, если она просто решит подойти к вам вплотную, невозможно задоджить, отчего единственная страта против неё - просто надеяться, что вы заспамите её проджектайлами быстрее, чем она решит, что вы, в принципе, наигрались, и пора бы вам начать игру с самого начала; или ублюдошный дух-страж, который может просто заспавниться внутри вас и без шанса добить в случае, если у вас остаётся на момент битвы с ним последнее сердце); кривые хитбоксы, с которыми, например, русалки, прыгающие из воды, черпают вас своим невидимым пузом и скидывают в ваншотную яму почти в конце игры; пролетающие сквозь врагов ваши снаряды; иногда просто по приколу неработающий двойной прыжок и куча подобных косяков - всё это можно не заметить во время обычного первого-второго прохождения: у игрока и без этого будет миллион смертей, и одна лишняя картину не изменит. Но вот если начать игру траить и пытаться пройти идеально... На прохождение без смертей я потратил порядка 30 часов, и если первые 10 я сливался из-за отсутствия стратегии/отработанной мышечной памяти, то после игра открылась для меня с другой стороны - оставшиеся 20 она меня сводила с ума вышеописанными багами и абсолютно нечестными и кривыми с точки зрения геймдизайна моментами, которые просто не замечаешь, пока не заучишь игру от и до. Эти самые последние 20 часов ощущались пыткой, потому что я был вынужден из раза в раз сидеть и на автомате полчаса проходить уже давно не сложные уровни, чтобы потом меня в одно мгновение скинул в ваншотную яму даже не коснувшийся меня враг, или отключился двойной прыжок прямо во время сложного платформинга. Но если вы тоже любите бить себя сковородой по яйцам, поставив на спину включенный утюг и подключив аккумуляторные клемы к соскам - однозначно рекомендую.

Великолепный аркадный экшн в духе Ghost n Goblins. Очень хорошо задизайненная игра, которая каждую минуту подкидывает новые геймплейные ситуации.

The presentation on this one is quite nice (especially the Genesis-esque soundtrack) but the difficulty of the game often borders on the verge of cruel -- which is appropriate for a game inspired by Ghouls and Ghosts, but that doesn’t mean I have to find it fun. 4.5/10

This game tickles me in a way that I don't always enjoy. I like the music, I like the visuals, I like the Spanish mythology, I like the gameplay. However, there is one big problem I have with this game: Things that are awful on purpose are still awful. For example, laying out your levels to be obnoxious instead of challenging is a bad idea, even if the material you are referencing did the same thing. Cursed Castilla wears its' 'Ghosts and Goblins' inspiration on its's sleeve and there's nothing wrong with that. The issue comes when the game steps on the same landmines that GnG did for the sake of faith to the inspiration. Bottom line, be prepared to die. A lot. But if you can stick it out, you actually feel pretty good about getting good. You've got to make sure to stick it out, though, because this game is GOING to piss you right the hell off with its' horse balls. If you can muscle through that, it's a fun little platformer that you can sink a few hours into. I believe in you. Go get 'em, champ.

Jogo muito bom, para quem já jogou ghouls'n ghosts fica expert nesse jogo.

For god I strike down the undead!

This one actually kind of disappoints me. It is extremely frustrating to play. It purposefully takes the most obnoxious design elements of the 80s arcade quarter-munchers and blends them all together for you here. Fixed jump heights, almost no air control, slow movement, very limited attack options (up and forward, that's it), bad weapon pickups (the default weapon is the best), very low health (3 hits), massive knockback that leaves you stunned until you land on solid ground (most of the time you will fall to your death as you can't even grab ropes in this state) and in some cases long difficult sections full of enemy spam, fast moving projectiles and instant death pits everywhere and one wrong move sends you all the way back. This game really takes all the most frustrating parts of retro games, boils it down to it's most pure, vile essence, than serves it to you on a silver platter. I say silver because the game looks gorgeous, very authentic looking and sounding with it's sounds and music using what sounds like a real 80's capcom arcade sound chip. Though most of the music is pretty bad, very reminiscent of Ghosts N' Goblins which also had a very weak soundtrack. This makes the tediousness of repeating the later areas over and over again even more frustrating as it feels like the awful music is taunting you. The game seems to be designed whole-heartedly around score, but is so unforgiving and brutally challenging that it is definitely impossible for 99% of players to ever actually achieve a 1 credit clear in this game in order to get a good score. I'd reckon most won't even complete the game. The game has a massive difficult spike in Stage 4, with a long stretch of difficult platforming while also being bombarded with enemies and falling hazards. Your movement is not designed to handle this situation. I barely died at all in stages 1-3, then i reached stage 4 and spent about 20 credits to beat it. (that's 60 deaths). Stage 5 returns to a more manageable difficulty. Stage 6 has some challenging moments that'll eat some credits. And Stage 7 has some of the most obnoxious tropes where the area loops if you don't take the correct doors, find a key and bring it all the way to the correct route to open the door to the next area. I haven't beaten that yet as it really tries your patience. The game borrows a little too heavily from Ghosts N' Goblins, a game that was imfamous for it's brutal unfair difficulty. You can only carry 1 weapon at a time and as I said earlier, all of the weapon pickups are worse than your starting weapon in 90% of cases. The exceptions aren't worth worrying about. Almost all the other weapons will just fly over enemies heads and leave you defenseless as you can only throw one projectile at a time, you have to wait for the previous projectile to despawn before you can attack again, so if you miss, you will get hit and often die from knockback. I can't in good conscious really recommend this to anyone. I am the target demographic for this game and I find it to be almost malicious in it's design. There are no difficulty options either so you just get brutal difficulty no matter what. The only people who might get some satisfaction out of this are truly masochistic gamers. I will say that just beating the game is quite the feat of skill and patience. If you are looking for a seriously un-fun extreme challenge to test yourself with, this is it. It is way harder than Ghost N' Goblins or any of the classic games that inspired it, so consider yourself warned. As for a rating, it's tough to say. It's competently made, no bugs, no major mechanical flaws. It's just designed to be as cheap and unfair as possible, it includes more than enough gotcha moments, enemies firing projectiles as soon as they appear on screen while you are in mid air and cannot correct yourself so you get hit and die instantly, as well as plenty of blind jumps resulting in death. Almost no healing items and the few that exist are placed in the worst possible locations. I'm not sure if this is technically polished or not. It doesn't look jank, everything functions like a professional 80s action game, but it almost doesn't matter when the game is focused on stomping on your knuts. If i really have to give it a score, it's somewhere in the middle, ~5/10. P.S. I'll probably still get around to finishing this as I take defeat in a game personally. But I don't see my opinion changing on the game whatsoever.