Revised Crystal of Kings review
OK, I'll write up a review for Crystal of Kings. Here goes:
Gameplay-wise, Brezza started off with some good stuff. Like Capcom's D&D titles, your characters have a wide assortment of moves to do: run, dash attacks, dash/jump attacks, jump attacks while holding down, standard combos by repeatedly pushing attack, ducking, ducking attacks, fireball motions+attack canned combos, shoryuken "anti-air" attacks, throws ala Final Fight, and the old "jump+attack" special that clears enemies and drains some life. There's several levels of magic spells to be cast, which take energy off your magic bar (can be replenished by picking up potions). As you've probably guessed, it's as if Golden Axe, Final Fight, and D&D were tossed in a blender.
The gameplay isn't bad. It just doesn't feel very refined. Throwing enemies is pretty hard in particular and seemed more a matter of luck than skill. Also, you can't cancel a combo into a throw like in FF or GA, which makes things very difficult when you have a screen full of enemies. The length of the game itself is VERY short...I'd say this game takes me 30 minutes, tops, to finish; perhaps less than that. There's six or seven stages, but they can be finished in less than five minutes each if you run frequently. That's pretty ridiculous in itself, but to make matters worse you can't even choose your own path ala the D&D titles and GA: DAR. Along the way you can find fairies that help you out by attacking enemies for brief periods of time, but it comes off as tacked-on and isn't nearly as rewarding as having a mounted ally to ride around (like the GA titles or Knights of the Round). There's a grading scale at the end of each stage that says "crystal down" or "crystal up", but I'm not sure how this system works since it isn't explained in-game and the operator's manual doesn't explain gameplay, only hardware settings. And since it's rare to begin with, have fun finding someone who knows the hows and whys of this stuff.
Sound-wise, the music is fair; in my version the intro at the beginning sounds off at times, as though it's beginning to stutter (anyone else have the title? Does this happen with yours?). Other than that, everything's smooth, although it's hardly memorable. Sounds are generic moans and groans (the hobbit-character on the anteater sounds constipated) and are nothing great; sounds like something from 1991.
Graphically, this game looks like Killer Instinct...on the Super Nintendo. Characters are ridiculously pixelated (you can't even make out any facial features, let alone expressions!) despite being a respectable size. The larger characters look fine, sometimes impressive, but overall it's sub-par. Brezza went for the rendered look...I don't particularly care for it; detail-wise this title doesn't begin to compete with the D&D titles. Everything animates average, except for the backgrounds which are handsome in the first 3 stages and then get progressively blander and more lacking going on. The first stage has a large swinging pendulum in the background that probably has 3 total frames of animation despite the fact that it covers about half of the scenery it's in. It's pretty embarrassing; it "teleports" to the left, then back to the middle, then to the right, and so on. That's the only example I can think of where something's going on in the BG. This is the type of game that looks better in still pictures than in actual gameplay.
There are four characters. From what I remember on Brezza's old website on the game (which went down shortly after I bought it) there's a way to unlock a fifth He-Man lookalike, but I don't know how to for reasons already covered above. Each has the same system of magic, so it's all basically a matter of which one appeals to you the most. The hobbit stands out since he uses a bow, but other than that they're quite similar.
Overall, and looking back, this gets a 4/10 from me. There were some nice ideas going into the title, but it feels rushed and the execution, as I said in my earlier post, gives it a proto-feel. GA: DAR, KotR, King of Dragons, and especially Capcom's D&D titles kick this game to the curb on every level IMO. Hope this helps.
