Crypt Killer (Arcade, PS) (1995, 1997)
Developer: Konami

Review by Faididi and Co.

No need for a fedora and a whip when you have infinite ammo

Story: Average

Heavily-armed, trigger-happy adventurers throw caution to the wind and storm into monster-infested ruins to seek the Eyes of Guidance, a fabled pair of jewels that can open a magical gate to either unimaginable wealth or horrible death. There are many different endings, but they add little to the bare-bones plot, and at least one of them is too silly for its own good.

Gameplay: Average

Konami's Crypt Killer is a 3-Player rail shooter that's about blasting monsters to hell through a bunch of underground ruins and caves, frantically reloading along the way. The heroes wield handguns by default, and they can bust open treasure chests to uncover shotguns, grenade launchers, and other special weapons. They also carry a limited supply of megabombs that can take down every bad guy on the screen.

Perhaps the best part of Crypt Killer is the variety in its level and enemy designs. The 6 stages each consist of three acts and then a boss scene, but the heroes can finish the stages in any order, and their route further changes depending on which doors they open in the middle of the areas. The bad guys include a colorful assortment of monsters like skeletons, mummies, giant bats, rabid rats, killer piranha, and even awesome creatures constructed of living water. There are plenty of destructible environmental hazards, too, in the form of hidden spike traps, collapsing statues, falling rocks, and falling rocks that are on fire. The bosses are based on more specific mythological beasts, such as Medusa, the Hydra, and the Sphinx, and they have very different attack patterns that make them fun to battle.

Unfortunately, the unusual level flow doesn't help build any sense of coherence in the game's world. The ruins are inspired by a jumbled medley of ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman motifs, with a rocky cavern found here and there, causing the scenes to blur together into a generic dungeon rampage. Worse still, some of the stages recycle the same acts, leading to awkward repetitions of areas. To be fair, Crypt Killer doesn't overstay its welcome, thanks to its stages not dragging on tediously like those in Midway's Revolution X, but neither does it come close to delivering the unique thrills of Namco's Time Crisis.

Controls: Excellent

The controls are perfect (assuming nothing is wrong with the lightguns). Aiming, firing, and reloading are all easy to do.

Graphics: Average

Whereas Sega's Virtua Cop already features fully real-time 3D visuals, Crypt Killer remains stuck between 2D and 3D graphics, with mostly sprite-based enemies populating polygon-based scenery. This mixed style isn't bad in itself, but the animations can stand to be more impressive. Defeated bad guys sometimes stretch out or explode in weird-looking ways, and one or two of the rolling camera motions appear hardly natural.

Audio: Above Average

The audio work is more consistent in quality. The gunfire is loud and messy, while the tunes are suspenseful, if not memorable. Although the heroes' one-liners quickly grow repetitive, the voice acting for the spirit who serves as the team's guide sounds better and is free of excessive translation issues.

Overall: Average

Crypt Killer's 3-Player support, flexible level paths, and great name don't quite overcome its generic, awkwardly repeating areas. Rail shooter fans who love to play together with friends should find enough here to be satisfied, but others will be better off with the new classics in the genre, like Virtua Cop and especially Time Crisis.

Port: Average (PS)

That the PS version of Crypt Killer feels underwhelming isn't difficult to understand. Coming after the release of ports of superior arcade rail shooters, it cuts the total number of Players down to 2, and it adds no exclusive features except for a new auto-reloading option. The game continues to be challenging, due to the very limited number of credits. On the bright side, this port is compatible with most lightguns for the PS, including Konami's own Hyper Blaster.