Circle of the Shadow Wraiths

Introduction

Circle of the Shadow Wraiths was created by SteelShield and is basically a carbon copy of Ghosts N' Goblins from the NES. While there are some differences between the two. Those differences largely lay in the story rather then the gameplay.

Story
A Most Curious Decision


Circle of the Shadow Wraiths is a bit weird in my opinion in that the story is only accessible from the title screen. If you just jump into the game then you'll miss out on any of the information presented in the story. It's just a rather odd decision in my opinion. You'd think the story would be presented to the player at the beginning of the game just to give the player some sort of grounding into what is going on and why we are running around blasting various enemies out of existence.

Grammar


While this game doesn't present dialogue all to often. When it does it tends to contain grammatical issues. Though the story above also contains other kinds of mistakes like referring to maidens as wizards instead of witches. The term wizard is inherently male. If the developer is looking for a more gender neutral term when it comes to magic wielders then it would be mage.

Gameplay

As mentioned previously this game is basically just a clone of Ghosts N' Goblins. As such there isn't too much to talk about in this section that you haven't heard before if you are familiar with that title. Though, for the uninitiated I'll go into some depth about the game's mechanics. Though, before I do that I'd like to take a second to address the control layout.

The controls in this game feel a bit weird in my opinion. Instead of using up to jump or pressing the z or x key the game instead use the ctrl key while using the shift key to attack. This control layout just defies my usual expectations. Though to be fair this game was created using Multimedia Fusion 2 instead of one of the various RPG Maker Games. So maybe this setup is a bit more standard for that engine.

With that being said this game will require you to get used to how attacking and jumping works if you ever plan on getting far in this game. If you wish to attack in this game you'll need to keep a few things in mind. First, you can only attack while standing still and even then you may find yourself unable to attack if your standing on certain surfaces like the one pictured below.



Another factor to keep in mind while attacking is that you can't perform a jump attack. Which becomes rather problematic in my opinion since a few enemies like to come swooping at you from the top of the screen. Albeit you aren't obligated to kill them, but it does feel a bit strange for me to simply bypass enemies by ducking, dodging, and weaving between them.

When it comes to jumping you'll need to keep the following things in mind. As soon as press the jump key you are committed to the jump you just executed. There is no turning around in mid-air or wiggling around a bit in order to save yourself from certain doom. It should also be noted that you'll only have forward momentum on your jumps if you were traveling forward at the time you pressed the jump button. As such it's vital to plans your jumps in advance or you'll simply fall to your death or take unnecessary and potentially fatal damage. This archaic jump design works for the game considering what it was going for but it may frustrate players that aren't used to such jump controls and might even annoy those that are simply on the grounds that the design feels highly dated.

Thankfully the game does provide the player with an infinite number of continues. So as long as you are unwilling to quit you can continue to advance in this game. And while this feature should be expected considering the source material. It is nice to see that while the developer did make a few changes to the formula he/she didn't mess with such an important feature. In fact, the few changes the developer did make or for the better in my opinion. Those changes are less enemies on screen, an additional hit point, and shorter stages. About the only real gripe I can throw at this game is that it's difficult to close. If you want to get out of this game you'll either need to die multiple times and refuse to continue or you'll need to open up the task manager and kill the program that way.

Graphics

Are these rodents of unusual size or werewolves?

While I can appreciate the simple nature of the visuals in this game. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to finding a lot of the character models rather ugly or lacking in detail.

Sound

On the sound side of things I tend to find this game rather annoying. This starts with the loud banging sound of drums that takes place on the title screen before it turns dead silent and continues on into the game itself.

Conclusion

Circle of the Shadow Wraiths while probably not as difficult as the game it was fashioned after will still prove to be a challenge to beat in my opinion. Though, I'll probably never beat this game since I gave up after the second stage boss. It's constant swooping attacks means that you'll need to utilize well timed jumps and attacks in order to beat it and I don't currently have the time or patience to work out how to deal with it. And, since I haven't beaten this game I'll be nice and refrain from giving it a score.