MediEvil

It's easy to forget that the PSP has already played host to a MediEvil game. After critical and commercial success on the PSone, the title somehow managed to sidestep the PS2 and ended up as a launch title for the PSP, repackaged as a remake of the PSone original called MediEvil Resurrection.

Though by and large the game was an improvement over the original, it wasn't a leap that reflected the passing of an entire generation's worth of advances and owing to some pretty irksome flaws, MediEvil Resurrection had little chance against trailblazers like WipEout Pure and Lumines, suffering average review scores as a result.

Which begs the question, if MediEvil has already appeared on the PSP in an updated form and performed poorly, what is the thinking behind adding the inferior PSone version to the PSP Store? (We hear the argument it was once very popular on PSone and therefore worthy of inclusion, but we just don't buy it, that's all.)

But enough axe grinding. All in, the original MediEvil's flaws may be less forgivable in the modern light than they were when the game launched, but its charm has survived intact and effectively saves it from being a chore to play.

You begin in the 13th century-based fictional English Kingdom Gallowmere, where the cowardly soldier, Sir Daniel Fortesque, is the first to die after being hit in the eye by an arrow during a battle against the evil wizard Zarok's undead armies.

One century later, Zarok is up to his old tricks again unleashing his undead armies once more. Unbeknownst to him, however, Zarok unwittingly awakes Fortesque's skeletal corpse. Still missing the eye where he was hit, but determined to put right his life's failures and ascend to the Hall of Heroes, Fortesque sets out from his crypt to get his revenge on Zarok and "prove himself a true hero". What ensues is a genuinely funny and beguiling gothic pastiche served up as a sometimes repetitive but reliably entertaining 3D platformer.

Though the game is effectively a platformer, MediEvil is not chiefly an exercise in navigating a complex 3D space, as the levels are quite flat. The game instead requires you to beat the various zombies, gargoyles and other enemies that block the path with whatever weapon you happen to be carrying (even if that weapon is your left arm, pulled out of its socket by your right and swung as a makeshift club) in order to progress.

There is also the inclusion of humdrum but effective 'find key, put key in correct slot' style puzzles on each level, where different kinds of Rune Stones unlock doors and set mechanisms into motion.

If when playing this you get the feeling that Tim Burton should be wondering where his royalty checks are, then it isn't your imagination. Developer Sony Studio Cambridge never made any secret of The Nightmare Before Christmas's influence and it shows. Thankfully the homage has been pulled off with finesse and the characters, music and madcap scenes provide a thick darkly comic atmosphere that endears from the off.

While the game is charming, however, camera issues and a stark lack of variety, both in terms of objectives and abilities, does often mar the experience to the point where winning presentation isn't enough to inspire progression.

There are also control issues concerning the game's transition to the PSP. MediEvil was one of the first PSone games to make use of the Dual Shock controller which made operating the camera with the right thumbstick and toggling the run function with the L3 button a tad easier than the PSP's D-pad and nub set-up.

But all that aside, the game is pretty well stacked in the value stakes with 22 levels and plenty of bits and pieces to collect throughout the stages. It no longer is the classic it was once hailed as on the PSone, but if you can live with MediEvil's flaws, you're left with a robust platformer with a bewitching sense of style, offering great value for money.