There are some games I love to have on any console I own; OutRun, R-Type, Ghosts and Goblins, and Raiden. In this respect, the Vita has been rather dismal. While G&G is a part of the PSP Capcom Arcade, it is surrounded by crud games and a dumb collection interface. The fine PSP game OutRun Coast to Coast never made it to the digital store, and PS One versions of the shooters aren't on EU PSN.
Coming to the rescue comes Cursed Castilla, aka Maldita Castilla EX, a gorgeous homage to Ghosts and Goblins that takes the original and runs off on its own little jumping-and-shooting adventure.
Available in physical form with a cool LE thanks to Eastasiasoft and Abylight Studios, the coding from Locomalito, Gryzor87 is one of those
labours of love that keep the indie scene vibrant. There's various
screen display modes, even a few pages of
digital manual for the simplest of controls.
Superstar demons, here we go
With a gateway to hell opened by a demon, Don Ramiro is one of a band of heroic knights sent by King Alphonse VI to crush the evil creatures appearing across the land of Tolomera and vanquish the demon.
With a Spanish
flavour, there's the usual running, jumping and shooting lances fun, spread across forests, plains, villages and castles, all with simple but flavourful visuals and tight-as-a-nut gameplay. In true 8-bit style, there's plenty of opportunities to kill yourself, and the treasures chests might offer up a weapon you hate more than anything useful.
The castle itself has several paths through it with a few extra goodies to find and reveal. Boss battles puncture the free-flowing exploits and you'll need to figure out a winning pattern, and then cope with any last-second curveballs the game throws at you to advance.
Die (and you will, often) and you can choose to continue at the cost of pain to your soul. Sure, there's enough bonus hearts and shields to extend your life, but not for long. But, the game is still a little more friendly on the pain than Capcom's originals. All of this is driven by an excellent old-school soundtrack by Gryzor87!
With a set of hidden tear crystals to find, bonus stages, a high score chart and speedrun mode to provide a little extra incentive, this is gaming as it should be, fun, pure and throw-that-Vita annoying.
when you screw up. Everything fun gaming should be!
Score: 8/10
More reviews
Price: £9.49 (PSN, LE available)
Size: 120MB
Giant: Locomalito, Gryzor87
Progress: Key to the castle
