Demon's Crystal Review

The Spanish studio Byte4Games and Badland Indie, released today, Demon's Crystals. This is a multidirectional twin stick shooter that, after its successful passage through Steam, arrives at Xbox one, to try to make a place among the fans of the genre. Let's see how the game plays out ...

Duration

Demon's Crystals has different game modes. The main and most attractive is the story mode, or "Arcade", as it's referred in the game, where we must go beyond levels until we defeat, one by one, the three entities - huge final bosses - that have invaded the world of The Uricans. Each level is divided into several phases, where we must meet the objective of eliminating a certain number of enemies, collecting a specific amount of crystals, or both. In addition, as we annihilate threats, our demons will level up.

For a single player we also have the classic "Survival" mode, where the final score will depend on how long we survived, how many enemies we eliminated and how many crystals we collected.

Finally, the title also has different multiplayer modes: "Battle to death" - all against all - "Versus" - team battleship - "Fight for the crystals" - collection of crystals - "Catch the great crystal" - A kind of capture the flag - and "Kill enemies" - eliminate as many enemies as possible. In addition, the already mentioned "Arcade" and "Survival" also have their own multiplayer modes. However, we must note that in this aspect we find the great defect of Demon's Crystals, since its multiplayer is reduced to the local game, so we will not be able to enjoy any of it's online game modes.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the simplest there is. With the left stick we move the character that we have selected, and with the right fire in the direction of the stick. There is no avoidance or limitation in the ammunition. This is a shame, since sometimes it is something short, missing being able to give a somersault or something to dodge projectiles.

The problem is that moment-to-moment playability is not a big deal. The enemies that attack us are quite typical, being the zombies that attack us only melee, others that hold more and that shoot, or others that explode when approaching much. Throughout the game we see some variation, but those are the types. Although when starting to play we can select one of the four characters, each having a different visual weapon, in the end all work in the same way.

Without a doubt, one of the attractions of Demon's Crystals is the variety of power-ups that we can find in our games; From weapons that will drastically change our shots, to companions who will help us in the fight, passing through shields, runes, spells, bombs, healing items and speed, etc.

Graphics & Design

The design of the maps in Demon's Crystals is not big deal. They have several interactive elements and even traps, but it doesn't come as a surprise at any time. When playing and filling everything with bullets, it's often very difficult to see the enemy projectiles, so i found myself in many moments losing life without knowing very well why. The same thing happens with some traps, that although they are hurting us, mainly in the first world, it is difficult to see why.

The style of Demon's Crystals is very nice, showing a very colorful and striking style. The scenarios are also quite interactive. It's not that it affects the gameplay, but it's not bad to be able to fly some structures that are by the scenes. The characters equally attract attention somewhat less, as they collide with the anime design, that we can see in the selection of characters. The main problem that i see to the graphics, is the aforementioned one that doesn't differentiate too much the enemy projectiles so that they are not confused in a sea of bullets. The music is not bad, accompanying well to the action.

Conclusion

The first foray of Byte4Games in the world of video games has been a success because, although not especially original, the Spanish studio has managed to create an addictive shooter of those that you will end up playing for hours without realizing it; Its twin-stick mechanics and the pleasure of eliminating hordes and hordes of enemies will be responsible for it. Too bad that their interesting multiplayer modes do not have the option to play them online