Player2Reviews
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Latest
    • Xbox One
    • PS4
  • Watch Us
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Latest
    • Xbox One
    • PS4
  • Watch Us
  • About
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

7/26/2022 0 Comments

Avenging Spirit Review

Picture
The Ghost with the Most
By Richard Jewell
Reviewed on Xbox Series X
Released July 29th, 2022 on Xbox, Switch, PS4/5
Developer: City Connection

Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Picture
​I love playing retro games and the only thing that one-ups that feeling is discovering a hidden gem that I somehow missed the 1st time around. Today, that game is the Jaleco arcade title Avenging Spirit, brought to current-gen consoles thanks to City Connection and Ratalaika. Released back in 1991, Avenging Spirit (aka Phantasm in Japan) gained a bit of a cult following with the gamers who’ve played it, and I can see why. The graphics are colorful and cartoony, plus the stage backgrounds are chock-full of detailed sprite work. The choice to go with a large sprite design for the characters and enemies helps to make them pop off the screen and showcase their originality and goofiness. Combine all that with the frenetically-paced soundtrack and I can just imagine this cabinet making a scene just sitting there in the middle of a crowded arcade.
 
Before you start the game, you have a few options to play with. First off, you need to choose between playing the original Japanese language version or the English. Then you choose which mode you want to play in, the choice being the one-player home version or the original arcade version featuring offline two-player co-op. They pretty well share most of the same features, the only real difference that I noticed is the co-op and the way arcade mode allows you to mess with the DIP switch setting like a real arcade operator. This lets you play with things like enabling service mode, screen flipping options, and a debug menu but it isn’t really clear what kind of value these things add to a console game. Both versions benefit from a game rewind feature (made popular by The Disney Afternoon Collection), a save state feature, and the obligatory CRT filter options. Once you’re done with that, you can jump right into the game itself.
​The story is hilarious and sets up an interesting gameplay gimmick. While on a walk with your girlfriend, a gang kidnaps her to get a hold of her father’s research and kills you. Lucky for you (well, not really I suppose) her father is researching ghost energy. Now that you are a ghost who is slowly running out of time, you embark on a mission to rescue your girlfriend before it is too late. The only thing you are capable of doing in your ghost form is possessing people, so you begin by possessing one of the four starting characters and you’re off to the races! Once your host dies, you return to ghost form and your energy bar drains until you take over another enemy. If your energy bar depletes completely, you will die (again) and be forced to use a continue. There are powerups scattered around to help you out, like health and energy refills, jewels for points, and bombs that wipe out every enemy on the screen when grabbed. To be honest, though, the game isn’t very difficult and the home version features unlimited continues. If you want to challenge yourself then you can play the arcade version and turn off continues in the DIP switch options.
 
The fun part is trying out the huge and wacky cast of enemies. There are around twenty of them and all can be possessed except for the bosses. You will have the opportunity to control a plethora of baddies such as the ninja, gangster, wizard in fluffy cat ear robes, and even a vampire that flashes his boxers every time he opens his cape to attack. Some of the characters share the same basic look but have a different color palette and weapon set. The commando is the best example: he can go from a straightforward gun, lobbing grenades in an overhead arc, or a missile launching backpack. Each person you take control of has different mobility as well, with some being faster, jumping higher, or even flying in the case of the weird naked guru guy. The best part is that there is plenty of action to be had because the enemies are plentiful and respawn as the screen moves, so you will have lots of opportunities to try out every one and find your favorite.
​The downside is that Avenging Spirits is incredibly short. Beating it twice took me an hour and a half tops. The reason I played through twice was to see both endings. As you are playing through the six levels, there are three hidden keys to find so you can unlock the door in the final stage to rescue your girlfriend and get the good ending. The bosses are hit and miss as well. One is a literal crane that you must dodge while running on a conveyor belt, waiting for an opportunity to strike the engine when the barrier lifts. It does fit in with the goofy motif I guess, but it would have been nice if they had been cooler. There isn’t much else to say so I’ll leave you with some final thoughts. While the game is quite short, the issue is offset by the incredibly cheap price and I think it is quite worthwhile for retro gamers to experience this title. Achievement hunters looking for an easy 1K gamerscore would also find Avenging Spirits a nice purchase.  
Note: A copy of the game was provided for the purpose of the review.

Final Score: 6.5/10

​+Unique and interesting concept
+Charming character design
+Vibrant pixel graphics
​-Very short
-Not much replayability
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    WELCOME!

    Player2Reviews aims to be a reputable second opinion on the gaming industry covering news, reviews, and commentary on all things pop-culture!

    Categories

    All 3DS Batman #BreakdownsAndBrews DLC Giveaways Google Play Hardware IOS/Android Late Night Netflix Let's Play Movies News Nintendo Nintendo Switch Original PC Player2Plays Preview PS4 PS5 PS Vita Review Reviews Steam Submissions #TBTReview Trailers Twitch Unboxing Video Games Xbox Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Youtube

    Tweets by @Player2Reviews


    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    RSS Feed

Support

Contact
© COPYRIGHT 2015-2019 PLAYER2REVIEWS.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.