Spirits & Spells

Download Spirits & Spells and explore a world filled with magic and mystery! Cast powerful spells, battle evil creatures, and uncover the secrets of a haunted realm. Do you have what it takes to become a master of the arcane? Play now!
a game by Magic Pockets
Genre: Action
Platform: GBA
Editor Rating: 6/10, based on 1 review
User Rating: 7.0/10 - 2 votes
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See also: 2D Platformer Games, Side Scroller Games, Casper Games
Spirits & Spells
Spirits & Spells
Spirits & Spells
Spirits & Spells

Halloween can be a truly brilliant subject to build a video game around which is aimed at kids and teens. Just look at the excellent media that you have at your disposal for inspiration such as Hocus Pocus, Casper, Goosebumps, The Nightmare Before Christmas or The Addams Family just to name a few. Yet when you look at the video game counterparts that are on offer, you tend to find that each game in this genre takes a big swing and a miss when representing the spooky holiday period, even with recognisable licences to work with. Spirits and Spells doesn’t have the same pulling power as these licenced titles as it is an original IP but it uses this to its advantage to offer a slightly more mature affair with a lot going for it.

This game has the same aesthetic and gameplay qualities that you might find in titles like Medievil, Monster House or Maximo: Army of Zin. However, it also has action platforming aspects that make it quite akin to titles like Sly Cooper or Jak and Daxter in many ways. While this budget title may seem like it has no right to be mentioned in the same breath as a lot of these titles, you’ll find that there is much more here than meets the eye.

Dark Yet Cringe worthy

The story and general demeanour of this game may seem rather a child friendly at first but upon closer inspection, we would deem it one that pushes closer to the teen and young adult audience. You play as Alicia and Greg as they fight to rescue their friends from the clutches of a handful of demons who have turned them to stone. They will need to find Jack O’lantern, the one being who can reverse the demon’s handiwork and help turn the tide on this dark Halloween night. You will play as each of these characters across 13 unique linear levels, making use of separate combat move sets, stealth mechanics and unique powerups to traverse these areas and lay waste to the creepy monsters that aim to stop you in your tracks. Overall, it’s a solid narrative and concept that plays into the silliness of the more novel aspects of Halloween without losing the tense and spooky ones.

Hit and Miss Visuals

The game is a budget title so you can’t be too harsh about the overall presentation. However, it’s the inconsistency that the player will find most disappointing. The sound quality for this title is a particular strong point, with a wide variety of great tunes, sound effects and ambient noises that culminates to create a tense and spooky affair. However, this inconsistency rears its ugly head when you hear to flat and unenthusiastic voice actors delivering their lines.

The visuals follow the same trend, with the high points being the really well-designed levels and environments that nail the Halloween theme. Then on top of that, the animations are very strong as a whole. Then in contrast to this, you have poorly rendered character models and a fixed camera angle that will often have you adjusting your gameplay approach just to navigate a stage which can be just a touch frustrating.

What you will find consistency with, however, is the difficulty of this game. While the game is so accessible that a young child could pick up and play with ease, there is little progressive difficulty in this game.

It continues at a steady pace, not testing the player or offering much depth to the gameplay after the first few levels. It’s great for kids who want to play a game from start to finish but for those that are a little more adept at video gaming, this will become stale rather quickly.

Wasted Potential

It’s frustrating that this game couldn’t produce a much more comprehensive and cohesive experience than it did. This game has moments where you will be blown away by the musical score, the fun accessible gameplay, the novel mechanics and the interesting story. However, it’s the failure to capitalise on these positives through including assets that drag the game down that makes this game an average title at best. If you go into this one with an open mind and reasonable expectations, you’ll have a fine time exploring each level it has to offer.

6

Though in the end, it’s disappointing that Spirits and Spells couldn’t turn the tide regarding the reputation of Halloween themed games.

Pros

  • The great musical score and ambient effects
  • Environments are very well designed.
  • The story has more to offer than other games within the genre

Cons

  • Gameplay is very easy and becomes stale after a few levels.
  • Voice acting is a real presentational low point

Download Spirits & Spells

GBA

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Snapshots and Media

GBA Screenshots