Review for MediEvil (PS4). Game for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 25/10/2019
Everyone must be given a second chance, a second opportunity to redeem themselves, to remedy the lightness or mistakes made previously. When we say everyone, we mean everyone, including would-be deceased heroes. In fact, death is nothing more than a new beginning, especially if it is followed in turn by a resurrection, which represents a chance for revenge and redemption, albeit concretized by a bitter rival. That's just how it is Sir Daniel Fortesque returns to walk the Earth, awakened from his (not quite) eternal sleep, twenty-one years after his debut on PlayStation as a hero, a modern Don Quixote. This time it's up to Other Ocean Interactive, with the blessing of Sony, to give new luster to Sir Dan's first epic, in the remake of MediEvil.
Second chance, old story
Gallowmere, Late Middle Ages. Sir Daniel Fortesque falls victim to an arrow that takes him in full and kills him instantly, just during the first charge against the army of the evil sorcerer Zarok. The latter is defeated by the united heroes who, totally deprived of Fortesque's contribution, manage to eradicate the threat, even if not totally: Zarok, in fact, escapes from the grip of the defenders of Gallowmere, but his is nothing more than a strategic retreat . For unclear reasons, Sir Daniel is remembered as one of the most decisive heroes of the battle that just ended, despite not having accomplished any feat. His second chance comes just when the sorcerer, intent on recovering Gallowmere, casts an eternal night spell on the realm, corrupts its inhabitants and resurrects the dead, involuntarily bringing our (not) hero back to life.
This is where our adventure as the most famous skeletal knight in video game history will (re) begin. For longtime fans, from the point of view of the plot, there will be no news, as the plot of MediEvil has not been affected or modified at all compared to the original one: a fairly linear and predictable path, for sure. verses, but always full of irony and desire to keep a smile on the lips of the players. In this remake, MediEvil's style has remained very faithful to the original one: a mixture of horror and craziness that is hardly boring and not fun, although it can sometimes be a bit obvious, in the gags or in the narrative implications.
The bones creak
As well as the narrative component, too the gameplay has remained the same as the original: simple, intuitive but perhaps a bit cumbersome for modern times. As on PlayStation, it will not be possible for us to move the camera to our liking in some sections of the levels, therefore having to adapt to the choice of the developers, regardless of whether we like it or not. At the same time, even in fighting, not too rarely, we find ourselves having to manage groups of enemies ready to jump on us in a somewhat confusing way. To cope with these obstacles it will obviously be necessary to make wise use of the weapons that we will have, destined to increase as we collect the Chalices, reaping souls in the various levels. Various types of shields will come to our aid, which however will be managed with parsimony and shrewdness as each of them will have its own durability, after which it will break in the hands of Fortesque, leaving it defenseless.
In the latter case we will find ourselves having to perform various slaloms between the enemies, to avoid their attacks and try to score ours, which will sometimes be quite comical (Benny Hill tells you something?) But that in the long run discovers the cards on the problems of cumbersome which we mentioned a little earlier. The mix with the imprecision in sending certain attacks, depending on the weapons we will wield, inevitably makes you turn up your nose. It must be said, however, that all the movements, from the race to the attacks, have been made much faster, fluid and reactive than in the past, where they appeared more woody.
Not for this, however, Medievil turns out to be incapable of entertaining and amusing: once you have passed over certain flaws, it is impossible not to remain glued to the screen, ready to (re) discover the places that made Sir Daniel Fortesque a legend.
The macabre glimpses of Gallowmere
The work of Other Ocean has certainly proved to be more challenging and trying in the creation of the graphic sector of this remake of MediEvil: everything, from the character models to the last pixel of the macabre locations of Gallowmere, has been revisited and revised to make it look height of today's standards. The result is undoubtedly to be admired: the cleanliness of the settings, the colors made much more vivid than in the past, the modernized textures but still faithful in all respects to the original, make MediEvil a sight to behold, especially if we still have vivid memories of what it was like in the 90s. The response is certainly excellent but, from a technical point of view, there are still some small inaccuracies. In fact, it has happened to us sometimes, inside the cutscenes, to run into the audio slightly out of sync compared to the video or, another example, to see Sir Daniel get stuck for a few moments on the steps, as if he were falling into the void. Nothing too serious, in short, certainly problems that will be solved with future patches, if not already on day one, but which are still not so beautiful to look at.
Nice to hear instead is the dubbing, also faithful to the original: from the refined vocabulary of gargoyles to the grumbles of Sir Daniel. The style probably lacks a bit in the acting phase, losing realism, but it remains a valuable work, made entirely in Spanish.
The return of Sir Daniel Fortesque is certainly an event to celebrate: both for longtime fans and for those who will meet him on PlayStation 4. The title suffers from a few small flaws on a technical level (nothing that cannot be corrected with a patch) and a gameplay that probably hasn't aged very well, as it turns out to be cumbersome in certain fights, thanks to the management of the camera and the inaccuracy of melee attacks. This does not mean that MediEvil is still a title that must absolutely be tried and played, especially for those who have already loved it in the past for its comic as well as Burtonian style.
► MediEvil (PS4) is an Action-Adventure type game developed by Other Ocean Interactive and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 25/10/2019
