{"id":1225,"date":"2023-10-06T19:00:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T23:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2023-10-02T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T02:30:00","slug":"demons-crest-issue-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2023\/10\/06\/demons-crest-issue-46\/","title":{"rendered":"Demon\u2019s Crest \u2014 Issue 46"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fire\u00adbrand reigns supreme in ghoul\u00adish, ghost\u00adly, fiendish romp<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cap\u00adcom is known for its glob\u00adal\u00adly renowned ros\u00adter of video game char\u00adac\u00adters. From Mega Man to Neme\u00adsis, these char\u00adac\u00adters have cement\u00aded their lega\u00adcy. Fire\u00adbrand, the red demon of death that is on that renowned ros\u00adter, made his bones and shows up to show out in Cap\u00adcom\u2019s Demon\u2019s Crest (no, not the dev\u00adil\u2019s toothpaste).<\/span><\/p>\n

In Demon\u2019s Crest, you take the role of the fire-breath\u00ading, head-butting hero Fire\u00adbrand through six stages as he tries to recov\u00ader mag\u00adi\u00adcal crests, which are arti\u00adfacts with con\u00adtrol of the ele\u00adments and time. Accord\u00ading to Demon\u2019s Crest leg\u00adend, when these items fell into the demon world, a civ\u00adil war erupt\u00aded with Fire\u00adbrand as the vic\u00adtor claim\u00ading the crests of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Time. Fire\u00adbrand fought anoth\u00ader demon named Somu\u00adlo, who held the crest of Heav\u00aden, and secured a vic\u00adto\u00adry over the rival demon. How\u00adev\u00ader, anoth\u00ader demon named Pha\u00adlanx attacked Fire\u00adbrand while he had low health, tak\u00ading pos\u00adses\u00adsion of all the crests. This allowed Pha\u00adlanx to sum\u00admon anoth\u00ader crest that con\u00adtrols infin\u00adi\u00adty. While Fire\u00adbrand recov\u00adered, he was impris\u00adoned in an are\u00adna guard\u00aded by the revived Somu\u00adlo. After defeat\u00ading Somu\u00adlo, Fire\u00adbrand begins his quest for vengeance and recov\u00adery of his well-earned spoils of war. <\/span><\/p>\n

Game\u00adplay is a com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of plat\u00adform\u00ading and Japan\u00adese RPGs mixed with ele\u00adments from Castl\u00ade\u00adva\u00adnia and Metroid. Fire\u00adbrand has the usu\u00adal plat\u00adform\u00ading moves such as run\u00adning, and jump\u00ading, but can climb walls, tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly float, and launch pro\u00adjec\u00adtile attacks with the help of the Fire crest. Fire\u00adbrand can pick up var\u00adi\u00adous powerups from fall\u00aden ene\u00admies to increase health and attacks in addi\u00adtion to col\u00adlect\u00ading coins to pur\u00adchase for var\u00adi\u00adous items found in shops through\u00adout the demon realm. I also love that Fire\u00adbrand has some allies: Phora\u00adpa, a demon who sell potions with var\u00adi\u00adous abil\u00adi\u00adties; Mal\u00adwous, a demon that tells Fire\u00adbrand the secrets of tal\u00adis\u00admans found from the human realm; and, Morack, who sells mag\u00adic spells to boost Fire\u00adbrand\u2019s arsenal. <\/span><\/p>\n

The con\u00adtrols are sim\u00adple, yet require some nuance to remem\u00adber all of Fire\u00adbrand\u2019s abil\u00adi\u00adties. The fact that Cap\u00adcom decid\u00aded to take a fresh approach on the plat\u00adform\u00ading instead of mak\u00ading anoth\u00ader Ghosts n\u2019 Ghosts was a wise choice to make here. The music fits the theme of each stage and main\u00adtains the theme of the stage well. And much like the music, the graph\u00adics also won me over for the col\u00adors and artistry, espe\u00adcial\u00adly when played on a mod\u00adern television. <\/span><\/p>\n

While I love most parts of Demon\u2019s Crest, there are some not-so-good nit\u00adpicks to make. Cer\u00adtain stages where per\u00adfect tim\u00ading is need\u00aded to land on float\u00ading plat\u00adforms across killer obsta\u00adcles are annoy\u00ading. The pre\u00adci\u00adsion isn\u2019t there and it\u2019s frus\u00adtrat\u00ading to attempt it mul\u00adti\u00adple times. Anoth\u00ader strike comes when you play the bonus game. You must time your head-butting attack against demon skulls in a Whack-a-Mole-style game with a time lim\u00adit. Con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading that if you lose, you also lose mon\u00adey, this is a prob\u00adlem with the in-game econ\u00ado\u00admy. It makes you not want to play the mini-game at all. I also had issues with the Mode 7 view in Demon\u2019s Crest. Although awe\u00adsome most of the time you use it in nav\u00adi\u00adgat\u00ading the demon realm, it weird\u00adly affects your vision if you fly around for a pro\u00adlonged time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Demon\u2019s Crest comes from Cap\u00adcom\u2019s attempt to do some\u00adthing new and excit\u00ading. Ush\u00ader\u00ading in a new era of plat\u00adform\u00ading and hop \u2018n bop action was Cap\u00adcom\u2019s agen\u00adda and it paid off. In the case of Demon\u2019s Crest, they under\u00adstood the assign\u00adment and passed.<\/span><\/p>\n