Demon's Crest is set on a nice wave length. A dark world ruled by demons that are fighting for Rulership of them all.
The story goes like this:
The Red demon Firebrand is on a quest to collect all of the elemental Crests, magical stones which preside over their respective elements (Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Time, and Heaven). It is said that when all crests are combined, the Crest of Infinity will appear, allowing its holder infinite power, and the ability to conquer any, and all realms with it. However, during his quest, he is gravely wounded in a battle with the Demon Dragon in his efforts to claim the Crest of Heaven, and his nemesis Phalanx, uses Firebrand's moment of weakness to attack him and steal all of his crests for himself, with the exception of the Crest of Fire which was broken into pieces in the fight. Having fallen back to earth in the coliseum where he fought the Dragon earlier, Firebrand is forced to destroy him for good to survive, so that he can go after Phalanx and reclaim the Crests. Whether Firebrand wants them for power, or for glory, is never stated.
You begin by facing the Demon Dragon in the coliseum where you must defeat him in order to escape, once you've defeated it, a escape route opens to the outside. Soon as your outside the Demon Dragon breaks through your escape passage for one last try, you kill for good this time around and move on to find Phalanx and the Crests.
From the coliseum you must travel across the barren lands and find Phalanx. At the end of the first area you encounter a demon by the name of Arma, who is a servant to phalanx; once you faced him you receive the first crest. Once you complete the first area, you gain access to the world.
You can fly to anywhere on the map. There are areas where you must explore and shops where you can buy magic spells and items.
The gameplay is a mix of standard platforming, with mild RPG elements and occasional side-scrolling shooter sequences. You start with a fire power and the ability to fly which is limited. Each level can be played multiple times, and often the player has to revisit a level with new Crests to access areas, items and bosses that he could not before.
As you progress through the game, you gain different powers to use. You start with a fire power but later on you'll gain more superior powers. As well as powers the crests themselves can be used to transform Firebrand into a tougher demon. Each crest gives different abilities and looks. The Crest of Earth transforms into a Ground Gargoyle. It enables a charge attack that shatters rocks and causes Firebrand's breath attack to travel along the ground.
Despite the amount at the beginning, there is decent Gameplay. As you progress through each level you gain power and fight many tough bosses standing in your path. When you start to collect crests they can be used to transform Firebrand into stronger versions. The game can tend to last quite short in length but hidden secrets are amidst within the world.
The Graphics are quite good for the platform. Each level is done with a sense of evil and darkness as well as the world itself. There are great backdrops behind levels and characters animations and movements are done well.
Sound is also superb. Music is awesome with most themes. There are different pieces for each atmosphere that blend in well. The sounds themselves are decent on for its level from the monster's cries to sounds from battle.
For Value, once you've beaten the game there are reasons to go through again. I won't go into detail too much but there are hidden secrets that may be missed the first time though.
Demon's Crest is very fun to play, especially with a demon. It's a different set for a game where usually you always play as someone good, except in this game there is no good, only evil. If that sounds evil to you find a copy of this game and play!