Top 50 Favorites: #25

A masterclass in medieval gothic pop style. I'll be honest, I thought this was just kind of okay when I first played it - a little mid of a remake in a way that feels hollow (even cheap), not unlike Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated. But boy does this thing know how to sit with you and settle right on in... you'd really have to try hard to forget any of these luxurious-looking levels (of course that would ultimately be a futile fight anyway). Sir Daniel is such a lovable lead character despite (perhaps - in part - because of) having zero audible lines of dialogue, and like the rest of this game is designed to soaring standards. There's also something satisfyingly squishy about the combat here, nothing beats busting out that big ole' mallet and going to town on zombies, imps, pumpkin plants, and fish monsters and whatnot. An aura of authenticity coats this entire thing corner-to-corner, what initially might seem thin ends up seeming so lovingly crafted - so lived-in. So charming and freakish, it's even a shade creepy at some points - it being hard to deduce whether that's unintentionally so or otherwise makes it even moreso imo. Essential adventure game that's refreshing in its simplicity. Love, love, love it.

As a certified zoomer, my dad's ps1 was my first console. On it, we had Spyro, Symphony of the Night, Neversoft's Spiderman, and MediEvil. I played all of them, but not MediEvil for some reason. I wish I had, because this is the kind of game that I would play the first few levels of over and over again as a kid because my child brain didn't have the IQ to get through harder levels. After playing this as an adult, I felt like I did as a kid all those years ago playing ps1. This game is really fun and makes me nostalgic despite having never played it before, though many of its mechanics haven't really aged well in some regards.
The atmosphere and soundtrack are impeccable, especially for the Halloween season. It's the perfect game to play with a cup of coffee, an open window to let in the crisp autumn air, and a pumpkin spice candle burning on the counter. This coziness is helped by its Tim Burton-esque art style and sense of humor. I'll bookend this with the story - it's nothing to write home about. It has a really funny premise and there are even some moments that I'd dare to call epic. It's satisfying seeing the former coward Daniel Fortesque getting over his mild disability of being dead and slowly accruing more power to defeat Zarok.
The levels themselves can be fairly hit or miss. Many of them are fun to explore and traverse, and have intuitive puzzles and level design, but there are some like the Ghost Ship and Asylum which can be infuriating.
I thought this game would be a lot harder than it actually ended up being, because the earlier sections were very difficult due to the combat system's tendency to feel really weird and awful. It's really hard to kill enemies without getting hit since they more or less ignore your strikes until they're dead, and don't usually stagger. The best way to get through the combat in the earlier parts of this game is to run around like a cokehead and slash at everything that moves. If you're anything like me and got the chalices the first time going through each level, you'd know about the magic sword that never loses its charge towards the end of the game that makes all of the combat trivially easy, and the fact that you have many lives if you max out your health bar (which is another fairly easy task if you got all the chalices). The camera is an absolute nightmare though, and the controls make platforming a pain. This is a remake in the school of remakes that are a litte too faithful to the original, similar to the Demon's Souls remake, and keep annoying and outdated mechanics from the original release while providing just a graphical overhaul and a few quality of life improvements like more life fountains around the levels and certain advantages against bosses.
Overall, this was a good time that wasn't as painful as I thought it would be judging by first impressions, and is an easy game to recommend if you're willing to deal with some outdated mechanics.

Since the beginning of video games, controls have been a headache for both programmers and end users. Through the years, bad controls have been used both as a tool and an excuse to increase the difficulty of the game, pretending to be there on purpose. After saying that, I will never understand why a full remake doesn't fix the bad controls of the original version!

Very cute and casually fun game with a spooky aesthetic. Colorful world, funny enemies, and awful controls. You will get better at the game when you master the use of the dash for everything, but the controls, especially the jump, will annoy you when you try to get things done. An okay game with annoying controls.

After I completed the Resurrection, without wasting any time, played the PS4 Remake and it surprised me to see how much the PSP and PS4 Remakes were different.

First of all, if you're doing a remake you are having a chance to change mistakes, or add new things, or completely tell a different story. I noticed that companies are playing safe everytime they do a remake (Capcom is an exception). What I mean by 'playing safe', they're not touching anything other than graphics to turn it into today's standarts. If you're remaking games like Demon's Souls or The Last of Us and not touching anything other than graphics, I can get that because both games are playable even in today. But if you're remaking a PS1 game and not touching anything other than graphics, that means you're only writing a love letter to original MediEvil fans. Not the new players.

MediEvil (2019) looks visiually stunning, amazing. I really enjoyed to see how Gallowmere looked. But I wish I could say the same things for the gameplay too. There's an adjustment where you can quickly switch weapons by pressing the triangle button but thats it. The gameplay is just like the PS1 version, I know this because after I completed the PS4 Remake, the PS1 port was accessible through the menu. So I played a few levels to see how it was and I played it by hearth because the PS4 Remake basically copied it without any other changes. The location of every gold, every enemy, every healing potion was exactly the same as the PS4 version. The game LOOKS modern but does not FEEL modern, because it's a PS1 game with better graphics.

I'm being harsh because it's a 2019 game, so it must be a MODERN GAME. I didn't have such expectations from the 2005 Remake because it's an old game.

Aside from the gameplay, I saw a couple of issues on the story too. This is the part where MediEvil Resurrection (PSP) and MediEvil (PS1/PS4) separates from each other. Don't get me wrong, the story is basically the same in both games but execution is different.

In Resurrection, characters are more expressive. Not only the heroes but also Zarok, the main villain's himself is an active character in this game. We see him doing things very often, he has his own goal, own character.

However, in PS4 Remake: We only see Zarok in the very beginning of the game and than never see of him until the very finale. When I look at Zarok in PS4 Remake, I only see a regular bad guy who wants to conquer the world and does bad things because he's bad guy, you know?

I don't want this review to be too long but my advise is, you should play both games. To me, MediEvil (2019) failed to be a proper remake while PSP Remake succeded more in my eyes.

Sir Daniel Fortesque was my childhood hero, and I definitely enjoyed playing "MediEvil" again after so many years. It reminded me why I liked it so much when I was little: the quirky characters, the Burtonesque art direction, and an impressive variety of locations and enemies for its time.

This remake is visually gorgeous and leaves the atmosphere of the original intact., but the gameplay and level design are carbon copy. I understand that there was probably not much budget, but all we get are the exact same mechanics of a PSOne game with minor tweaks and revamped graphics. The combat system and camera are as rough and clunky as they were in the nineties, as if the developers had no ambition to improve our gaming experience. As I like old-fashioned games it was not a big problem for me, but there is no way the franchise will attract new fans in 2019.

Medievil es un juego que bebe mucho de la nostalgia por lo que cuando no tiene ese punto a favor (Como en mi caso), se le ven las costuras por todos lados y es aún más grave cuando es un remake muy vago.
Destacar especialmente de forma negaría ese tosco control en el que basa encima su dificultad. Si no puedes ni atacar ni esquivar bien, pues claro que podemos ponerte las cosas difíciles.
Por otro lado me ha gustado su sentido del humor, diseño de niveles y personajes.
Nota final: 6.
Y no, no creo que sea un mal juego. Es simplemente un muy mal remake porque deja lo peor que tenía en su época por motivos obvios de la tecnología del momento.

I fondly remember watching a friend play the original MediEvil in the late 90's. We were both attracted to the gothic environments and enemies. I'm glad this remaster kept the charming dark design. It was fun to see the old levels transform.

I had some issue with the camera; it's not easy to navigate in certain areas. The small amount of platforming could be improved, namely when you're trying to jump onto small surfaces to avoid falling to your death.

The difficulty felt absurd on specific levels (looking at those scarecrows in particular). I couldn't believe how easy it was to die when enemies can simply run into you to deal large damage. I'll admit, I had some grievances.

Then I completed a trophy that unlocked the original PS1 game, within the game. Why not, I'll play it for awhile for nostalgia. Immediately the camera was absolute shit and Daniel runs so quickly, it's easy to harm yourself with all the dangers around. Then I realized what an awesome job this team did with the remaster. The camera is an improvement. The movement feels more natural. You can swap weapons. It all makes more sense.

The game has frustrating levels, but overall it was fun to revisit.

Provavelmente o pior remake dessa leva de jogos clássicos do PS1. Minha crítica não se refere ao jogo original, o mesmo é bem carismático e tem ideias interessantes para um jogo de 98. Acho o mapa super interessante e a forma que ele bifurca as fases de forma não linear é bem original pra época.
Porem é inegável que a Sony não deu pra esse remake o carinho merecido, tirando os gráficos quase nenhuma melhoria técnica foi feita. O combate e a movimentação do personagem são exatamente iguais ao jogo original fazendo com que o mesmo não seja muito confortável de se jogar.

Listen. This game isn't perfect, but it sure as hell deserves more love than it actually gets and less of the dragging through the mud that critics gave it upon its release 4 years ago. Yes, Dan controls a bit clunky and wobbly, but that clunky/wobbly weight never got in the way of trying to move or attack and more than not actually made it feel more like Dan had a weight to him as a shambling bag of bones in heavy armor. Never really had a hard time with the levels aside from Scarecrow Fields (Fuck that sudden level spike out of nowhere and the fact those Scarecrows take so long to hurt and do so much damage) since most levels aren't too long. Most of the time the longest a level can take is maybe 8-10 minutes with shorter levels being 3-5 minutes. Dying can be annoying, nut never felt defeating due to the short length. Its pretty amazing how much of a personality Sir Dan has. For a somewhat silent protagonist with half a jaw he's able to emote and get across his feelings very well. Props to the animation team on that. Soundtrack is also a nop. This is pretty much if Danny Elfman scored a Tim Burton game. I know it's a bit of cliche to compare this game to that, but I do mean it in the best way. It's also really reassuring that despite wanting to be the home of AAA Dramatic 50 hour stories, Sony seems to never give up on this series despite its unpopularity and failure to consistently reach a crowd, that they keep trying to make it work. I get it now because this game is great and it does deserve to be seen, played, and loved by way more people than it is. Who knows? Maybe with this rumored theatrical movie they could try their hand at yet a 4th version of the original game. Or, you know, maybe just finally make a new game so that 95% of the series isn't just the same game remade.