Dark Castle was a classic mac game from 1986, 11 years later, a colored version was made. How does it hold up?
The story of the game remains mostly unchanged, with the help screens now telling the hero's name, along with a end to the game. The game could now be finished when beaten on advanced. The problem with that is, there is no real ending, with it fading to credits, and all those who like to just keep playing until they die, are stuck without being able to.
The graphics of this game do not take you breath away as the did with the original, while being fair, are nothing to wow at. Along with coloring it, they took some artistic license, and changed some visual things, some of which don't really seem better. The game also is not full screen, but rather, windowed, which makes it not as cinematic, and look more like a desktop application. Some of the colored levels do look beautiful, but a lot of them look really bland. Be prepared to have a lot of the levels look really similar.
The sounds remained unchanged from the original game, which is a good thing, because they were perfect before, and still stand up. You will still have these sounds run through your head.
The controls stayed exactly the same, which is good, because they were top notch to begin with, if it aint broke don't fix it.
There are the same enemies from the the original game, though they are all colored now, and some of them look really cool, where others look more bland then before. There is only 1 new level, which is very underwelming, the way to unlock it is very abstract, and after unlocking it, it's very bland, and pointless. The original levels still manage to keep their charm, and if you didn't know, they were brilliant before, and still are. Some of the level graphics make some of the levels feel more boring then before, but overall they are still really good.
The game also now has a save game feature, which, although good in theory, makes the game much to easy, and a lot shorter. You also can only have one save file at a time, which leads to annoyance quickly when starting new games.
Final Words:
Though no where near as amazing as the original version, and not something that will blow you away by any means, Color Dark Castle is still a good game, and you will still have fun with it, just don't expect anything groundbreaking. If you missed it the first time around, be sure to check it out now.
7.6: Presentation
The new help screens are very different the the old ones, the game has more bland looking levels, and it's permanently windowed. It's still is really fun though.
7.0: Graphics
The graphics are much more bland, and are nowhere near as amazing to look at compared to the original's.
10.0: Sound
The sounds is still, top notch, 21 years later.
9.0: Gameplay
The gameplay is left unchanged, and that is a good thing because the original's gameplay was exceptional.
6.0: Lasting Appeal
The game now has an ending on advanced, which means you can't just keep playing until you die, and you can't just keep racking up a high score. The new secret level sucks.
8.0: Overall