MediEvil (PlayStation) Review
Sir Dan ain’t pretty, but he’s got a great personality.
~by tankMage (August 2024)
Score: 87/100 (Good)
MediEvil is one of those games which distinguishes itself through shear creativity. The art, level design, and story are all highly imaginative and manage to push the game into the PlayStation hall of fame by their merits alone. If I didn’t know better, I’d have guessed Tim Burton had a hand in the art direction, because MediEvil conjures up memories of Nightmare Before Christmas; it was also an excellent use of the PS1’s rather modest 3D capabilities. Players who like to explore will also find a lot to do and will even be rewarded through the game’s chalice collection mechanic.
This wouldn’t be a review without complaints and I have a few regarding this title, though none of them hurt the experience enough to keep it from being good fun. For starters, I found the difficulty underwhelming. I know this can be a point of contention, since their are valid reasons to make an easier game, but it’s something potential players should be aware of whether they want an easier game or not. Speaking of difficulty, most of the deaths I took were due to fussy jumping controls, which was a very common issue in early 3D games. Players may also find the inventory system lacking as they will have to cycle through it a lot to change weapons, luckily it’s still fairly convenient to use.
Look on the bright side of death!
MediEvil may not have an epic story line, in fact its got a few lose ends, but it makes up for its flaws with a great sense of humor, world building, and a lot of creative ideas. Sir Dan isn’t your run of the mill video game hero either. Rather, he’s a failed hero who was killed at the start of a decisive battle with the villain, a necromancer named Zarok. Luckily, Dan is given a second chance to prove himself when Zarok returns for revenge…too bad Dan’s resurrection is somewhat incomplete since he returns as a skeleton and is missing a few parts.
In an ironic twist of fate, the unfortunate Sir Dan was recorded in the history books as the primary hero of Gallowmere and he spends a good portion of the game answering to the true champions of the realm in the Hall of Heroes. This sets the stage for a lot of funny jokes at Dan’s expense, while framing him as an amiable underdog at the same time.
The creative and humorous approach MediEvil takes to fantasy is commendable, but do not expect a great story. The game has a sort of episodic feel to it as it’s split into a number of stages, each of which having its own lore and theme. While the stages are all connected to the story in some way, players won’t see much of Zarok and there are not very many important plot points. Dan just wanders around defeating the bad guy’s minions for the most part. I don’t really mind the simplicity of the story, because the stylization and humor do a lot of the heavy lifting.
My only real criticism of the story is that it never takes itself seriously. It’s not necessary for a comedy to have serious moments, but I think a heavy scene or two would have added a lot to Dan’s character. Then again, maybe it wouldn’t have helped, since Dan is a man of few words, which is excusable seeing as how his lower jaw is missing.
Grotesquely Good Graphics
Let’s face it, the PlayStation wasn’t exactly a graphical powerhouse when it came to 3D games. Making a convincing representation of the human form using 3D models was a real accomplishment in the late 1990s and a lot of games from this era have a somewhat surreal asthetic. MediEvil really leans into the pseudo-surrealism of its time to create an impressive looking world. Just about everything in the game is crooked and catoonishly dingy, which is how it gets its Nightmare Before Christmas vibe.
Like many 3D PS1 titles, the draw distance is short, but this doesn’t really hurt MediEvil because the darkness only enhances the gloomy atmosphere.
I also really love the character designs. The artists managed to make some really creative monsters and characters using limited resources. Sir Dan is the best example of the cool artwork, but there’s a lot to be said for the bosses (particularly the Stain Glass Demon) and even regular monsters. Speaking of monsters, there’s a good selection of enemy designs, many of which are unique to stages. This is something I really appreciate, having played a lot of games with really repetitive monster rosters.
All too easy! But still fun.
Aside from a creative story and visuals, MediEvil also boasts quality gameplay with one major caveat: it’s very easy. While I did die a few times, it was mostly due to control issues (which I’ll get to later) or the occasional tricky boss fight.
Imaginative and cleverly designed stages help offset the low difficulty by a wide margin. Players will explore a haunted pumpkin patch, an asylum, a ghost ship, and an old castle over the course of the adventure. I really liked the vast majority of the stages, though the first few were rather bland graveyard clichés. The ghost ship was probably the best of the levels with its strong level design and combat.
Most of the monsters were very easy to kill assuming you take the time to clear each stage of enemies and collect the chalices hidden in the game world; doing so allows you to unlock powerful weapons in the Hall of Heroes. The easy combat also translates into boss fights as most of them are pushovers. The only times I struggled against a boss was when I didn’t know the trick to beating them, so the only way I see this game being even remotely challenging is if you do not explore at all and miss weapon upgrades.
On the topic of weapons, Dan has a lot of arms to choose from. His arsenal includes crossbows, swords, hammers, and axes. While swords saw linear improvements (you won’t use the short sword once you get the Broad Sword and so on) many of the other weapons retained their usefulness depending on the situation. As an example, the warhammer is not as powerful as the magic sword or ax, but it can damage large groups of baddies. This rule also extended to ranged weapons since even the weak ones can be used to pick off some monsters from a safe distance.
Dan gets a number of shields, but I didn’t feel like they were terribly helpful. This was in part due to shields having limited durability and because it’s just easier to dodge 99% of the time. Now, I have to be fair and recognize the fact that I didn’t find shields all that useful on account of my play style, so other players may find a good shield or two extremely helpful.
A medieval user interface.
I want to preface this section by saying MediEvil’s UI is very good for a 3D PS1 game. It doesn’t have awful tank controls and the camera works well enough. Problem is, the jumping controls are janky as hell. 90% of my deaths were from failed jumps near the last third of the game when platforming becomes a prominent feature. Eventually, I figured out the camera was partiality to blame and I was able to adjust my leaps to compensate, but still had trouble now and then. Collision in some spots may be a bit wonky or maybe the controls are just finicky. Either way, you can expect to have trouble making difficult jumps at first.
I wasn’t in love with the inventory system and the starting menu, either. While the inventory system was not cumbersome, it gets used a lot and becomes kind of clunky as you collect weapons. A way to cycle through weapons would have been great. The main menu was annoying, because it takes a long time to get to the load game screen. There’s unskippable copywrite stuff, dev/publisher info, and a cutscene that plays right away. All of these things make getting to the start screen a process. I guess MediEvil was ahead of its time since just about every game is like this nowadays.
A perfectly unobtrusive sound track.
If you asked me to identify a song from MediEvil, I probably couldn’t, because the music is very tame and cinematic. Of course, the amazing chip tunes of the 80s and early 90s were rapidly becoming a thing of the past by the time MediEvil came out, so I can’t fault whoever did the sound track; plus the music is very good for what it is. I just wish this game game had a cool theme song or two.
On the other hand, the sound effects and ambiance are excellent. For some reason titles from in this era often had beautiful ambiance and sound effects, maybe this was thanks to 32-Bit sound becoming common. Regardless, there’s a lot of cool sounds and I really like the ambient track used for the Hall of Heroes. I’m also fairly certain sound effects from Blood Omen were used in MediEvil. Oddly enough, they feel more suited to this game than Blood Omen.
MediEvil also features voice acting. Overall, it’s a cut above most PS1 VOs. I don’t like to use the term “for its time” because it makes certain assumptions that I do not necessarily agree with, but I will say the voice acting is damn good for that of an era where it was a novelty and most game studios seemed willing to hand anyone capable of reading a script a role in their game.
Dig it up or leave it in the ground?
I skipped over MediEvil many times while browsing the shelves of the local game shop in the 90s. For some reason the game just didn’t appeal to me. Looking back, I think I would have been disappointed by the low difficulty had I played it. It’s a fun game to run through, but if you like a challenge, you’re going to breeze through this game in a few hours even if you 100% it.
That said, MediEvil is still fun and entertaining. It’s also a decent choice for less experienced gamers or those who want some casual fun. In fact, MediEvil left me wanting more and I’m looking forward to the sequel, which I’ll try to play in the near future. All in all, it’s one of those games you should at least try.
Of course there’s a remake…
Like with just about everything that was even mildly popular, they remade MediEvil. In not going to lie, I hate the trend of remaking games. I want new games and new franchises, thank you very much. That said, some remakes are very good and manage to fix problems with the source material and expand on it while preserving its spirit. While I didn’t play the MediEvil remake, the trailer looks good and I may give it a try. That said, I really recommend buying or emulating the original release as well, because it’s an enjoyable product of its time and I doubt it can be truly replicated even if the remake is superior in some regards.
Thanks for reading my MediEvil review!