Blackthorne

Let's get two things straight right off the bat: Blackthorne ranks up there with the best weapons-based platformers of the 16-bit era. And, while one of the best, has nothing on Super Metriod.

Blackthorne is brought to us by Blizzard; the people who brought us the Warcraft games, Starcraft, and the Diablo series. With those games it's no wonder that Blackthorne has been all but forgotten.

The graphics got a pretty big overhaul from the Super NES version; Kyle and his enemies are now in 3D and the backgrounds look much better with the 32x's colors then they ever did on the S-NES. The 3D characters do look a bit odd on the 2D backgrounds though.

The controls are a little more complicated then they have to be, to jump you have to put your gun away, to jump at all you have to stop moving. It doesn't hurt the game much, and there is one cool control feature; you can pin yourself against the wall to avoid getting shot, although I suspect it was incorporated due to the clunky jumping. The game is extremely slow-paced for platformers, it is very methodical in level design, and you will waiting for the right moment to spring off a ladder or come off the wall. That is fun for a while, but it gets pretty boring before too long.

The sound is forgettable, in fact after just playing it 15 minutes before writing this review I have forgotten what it sounded like.

This game does not have battery back up which hurts it a lot. The password system strips you of all your weapons, potions, and leaves you with minimum health upgrades. If you want to beat the game you need to pretty much just play straight through.

This game is relatively hard to come by, and goes for about 50 bucks when it is located. I'd only buy it if I was a collector, as the game play experience (if not the graphics) is available much cheaper on the Super NES. Still, if you're looking for a good adventure game in the same vein as Flashback and Out of this World, look no farther than Blackthorne.