Demon's Crest / Demon's Blazon

Demon's Crest is Firebrand's venture into the 16-bit era. Some of you may remember him as the red demon starring in the game Gargoyle's Quest for the NES and then Gargoyle's Quest II on the original Gameboy. He also had a role in the Ghosts ‘N Goblins line of game, where he was a hindrance King Arthur's quest. In my view, Demon's Crest is easily the best of any of the games Firebrand has been in. The game is so rich and detailed that I got sucked right in. Here are the specifics: By: Catfish_82

Characters: 9/10

From what I can tell, the game revolves around Firebrand trying to recapture his old glory. At one time he was the most powerful demon in the land, however he's recently been eclipsed by another demon named Phalynx. I really got into them because of the intricate layers of good and evil the two present. Firebrand is clearly no better than Phalynx, the two of them are both power-hungry. The two were well designed and the different forms Firebrand can take also look good, although it takes some work getting used to switching back and forth.

The enemies of Demon's Crest are the worst features, as far as I'm concerned. They seem to be somewhat generic; or example, some of the denizens of the graveyards. However some of them are just downright original.

Graphics: 10/10

I can go on and on about how much I liked the graphics in this game. There was painstaking attention to detail, and it shows. The backgrounds and the foregrounds, everything about it was lovely.

Sound: 10/10

Again I can rave about both the sound and the music of this game. They are both very fitting given the gothic nature of the game and I can't think of an example where I've heard inferior sound quality. Well, I suppose the sound Firebrand makes when he dies qualifies. The music is quite fitting, and is just absolutely great

Play Control / Gameplay: 5/10

This is the only area where the game takes a hit. As a friend of mine put it, “I didn't like the game because switching back and forth between Firebrand's forms takes too long.” I sort of have to agree with him on this one, but I really didn't think it was all that bad

Replay value: 5/10

I thought the game was challenging at first, after a couple of times though, beating it just got too easy. I wish there was a way of adjusting the difficulty. For me, the ease of beating it kind of cancels out the replay value it has. I still like to play it, mind you just not as much as some of the other games I play.

So can you tell I like this game? It's a nice little gem and I'd highly recommend picking it up if you can find it cheap at a garage sale or the like.

Overall Score: 9/10