Forget gold - Ghosts 'N Goblins: Gold Knights is as hard as a diamond. Based on the original 1985 arcade game, this iPhone adaptation is proving why it's widely considered to be one of the hardest games ever made.
Cumbersome controls don't help make this difficult gem any easier, despite glittering retro 3D graphics.
You play as one of two knights, Arthur or Lancelot, as they sojourn through the Ghoul Realm in order to rescue captured souls. Cue, running, jumping and slashing your way through six stages that push your skills and patience to their limit.
Help comes with a DLC price tagStaying true to form is no walk in the park for any reinterpretation, and while the uncompromising difficulty may have been toned down with the inclusion of a life bar and an slower pace, the clumsy virtual D-pad makes things artificially harder.
In a game where split-second platforming precision is necessary to kill speedy demons, the controls are inadequate for the job.
To compensate for the difficulty Capcom has cheekily included downloadable power-ups. For £0.59/$0.99, you can purchase six different upgrades including unlimited lives and weaker enemies, among others, for those occasions when your frustration reaches the iPhone breaking point.
The end is in sightFrom start to finish, it shouldn't take you more than two to three hours to complete the game. Nearly half of that time is spent repeating particularly difficult sections. Fortunately, the levels are short enough to prevent frustration from being drawn out - however, this also puts a cap on its value.
Having played the game through once, learning to avoid tricky areas, there’s not much replayability to be had. If by the time you send the Ghoul King crashing to the floor you still haven’t got your hack ‘n’ slash fix, the abrupt ending all but hints at the possibility of future episodic downloads. Of course, this does little now for the game's lasting value.
It may be a golden oldie for a select hardcore few, but inadequate controls, a high level of difficulty, and questionable use of in-app purchase tarnish Ghosts 'N Goblins.
Ghosts ‘N Goblins: Gold Knights
While Ghosts ’N Goblins remains a perfectly reasonable platformer, it struggles to bring anything new to the table other than its innate difficulty made harder by awkward controls
Tom Love
Tom has recently migrated south for the winter after blagging his way through university. Living alone and diagnosed with an extreme case of post-study depression, Tom joins the Pocket Gamer staff in a futile attempt to become a functioning member of society.