Beyond Dark Castle, the sequel to Dark Castle, which came out a year later, does it live up to the original though?
This game followed the first games graphics, and improved of them with more animations. But the graphics are still amazing, they still will 'wow' you, but don't expect anything that looks any better then the first game.
The story of this game, builds on the bare bones story of the first game, taking you 'beyond' Dark Castle, where there is a locked door, and one must obtain 5 orbs. After that, you may face the black knight for the final battle. In this game, they gave the hero a name, Prince Duncan, along with the Wizard. They also added a real ending, which is shown after beating the game on Advanced.
The game has the same sounds from the first game, along with a handful of others. All of the new sounds live up to the original's greatness, and fit perfectly where they are used.
The controls remain unchanged, but they added some weapon combat, which works well, though is nothing to be amazed at.
There are more enemies this time around, and almost every obstacles you encountered in the first game. There are also new enemies, all just as well done as the original enemies.
The level design in this game isn't as good as the first game with two versions of two different levels, making it felt like you've been here before. A lot of the levels in this game are not as based around one puzzle, or obstacle. But in general, all of the levels are still good. With fun to be had all around.
The gameplay though very similar to the original game introduced weapon combat, bombs, potions, the ability to carry more then one key. Having to collect 5 orbs from different places in the castle. Also added are scrolling levels, which take up more then one screen size. They also added a save feature located from within the game through a switch.
The game did make up for the short length of the first game, taking usually a few hours to beat, rather then half an hour or so of the first game. The game being more arcady cannot be continued once beat on the hardest difficulty, which takes away replay value.
Final Words:
This is definitely not the same beast as the original Dark Castle. Does it make it a worse game? No. The only reason the game is any worse is due to a few issues, but overall, this game focuses more on an adventure then the first game, making the game take a lot longer to beat despite having the same amount of levels. the game is one of the best sequels of game made, but still does not top the original, but is just about on par with it.
Presentation: 9.8
The adventure setting works just about perfectly, it's to bad some of the levels all buy used twice in the game.
Graphics: 10.0
The graphics are not really upgraded, but they still look beautiful, even for today's 2D games.
Sound: 10.0
The sounds are back, and just as good as the were the first time, along with some more sounds that will run though your head in a rood way.
Gameplay: 9.8
The game play is enhanced to have a more adventure game feel, but the weapon combat feels a bit bland.
Lasting Appeal: 8.0
The length of the game is a huge improvement from the first game, and the save system is a welcome addition. But no continuous play on advanced hurts the replay value.
Final Score 9.7
(out of 10 / not an average)