Customer Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I finished this game in about two hours playing time total. With 16 relatively short levels, this game is not strong in breadth at all. Level designs are fairly limited, and the sound is quite unimpressive. This game also has a very dumb system with lives and continues -- every time you fall off the edge or your life runs out in battle, you get blasted right to the beginning of the level. Perhaps this was the programmers' way to try to make the game and the too-short levels more difficult, but I figured out a way to get around this almost immediately (to simply quit and reload the saved game is exactly the same as using up a life or a continue), so the lives system didn't increase the challenge much, only the level annoyance.

Good points: The controls are not nearly as stiff as, say, Super Ghouls N' Ghosts, and Buffy fans will enjoy watching the characters in the show interact -- even if their backgrounds are always the same and the "cut scenes" are all in stills. A Gameboy Advance cartridge probably doesn't have the storage for captured scenes, so I think the effort to try to get the stars of the show into the cut scenes (which would have cost much more money) is admirable. Sarah Michelle Gellar is of course a given (who would buy a Buffy game without her face?), but having Anthony Stewart Head, Alyson Hannigan, Nicolas Brendon and Emma Caulfield reprise their characters at least adds an element of authenticity, underwhelming as that presence is.

To be fair, I've played franchise games (such as Evil Dead: Hail to the King) that have shirked design and mechanics far more than this game, and the quirky Buffy environments are fun to navigate through. You pretty much have to be a fan of the show already to play this game, but if you are, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

1st off this is a review from someone that actually has played and owns this game. Unless you are a huge fan of the show and just want the game to add to your Buffy collectables I say do not buy this game! It has some of the worse controls and it get frustrating very quickly when you hit the jump button and do not jump. If you played the Buffy game for the Game Boy Color this is pretty much the same thing demon and vampire killing, cut scene lather rinse repeat. The levels are too short (or maybe too long in some cases), the A.I. is not very bright and the bosses are too easy to kill. The game can be beaten in an hour or so depending on the difficulty level and your frustration level. They don't even use the theme song from the show, just generic low quality stuff. This game is probably one they just change the characters around in and market as different games. Save you money on this one, I wish I had. I am looking forward to the new Buffy game coming out for the Game Cube, this looks much more promising from the previews I've seen at gaming sites. I'm a Buffy fan but this is the 2nd Game Boy game based on Buffy that is not worthy of the Buffy name.

Briefly put, Buffy explores various environs in sixteen levels of the game, fighting vamps and building up to a big standoff with some Darkhull king guy. In the process she picks up various weapons--the most common, of course, the good old wooden stake--some of which are more effective than others at fighting the bad guys.

I am not a big-time game player, so maybe I have lower standards than some of the people who panned this Buffy game, but my daughter and I have both gotten *many* of hours of enjoyment out of this one. It's fun roaming around the various levels, which were difficult enough to engage us for quite some time. (We've finished both the easy and normal levels,but I have yet to defeat the game on the hard level.) And I appreciate, as with other GameBoy games that we've played, that it takes some ingenuity to figure out what needs to be done. In other words I think that, counter-intuitively perhaps, GameBoy games can be educational for kids because they require thought.

There were a few annoying things about the game: being returned to the start of a level when you die becomes maddening, as does the (thankfully brief) introductory stage when the action of the game pauses to provide information to the user about button functions. It would be nice if that feature could be turned off. Otherwise, I recommend it.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King is essentially another licensed side scrolling beat 'em up that occasionally has something to do with the series it's based on through still cut scenes from the series and weapons that fans of the series will be familiar with. Taking place within the fourth season of the show, Buffy encounters hordes of vampires and demons, as well as the voice stealing Gentlemen and the cybernetic giant Adam among other baddies. The ability to combine weapons adds some variety to the game, but there are plenty of cons here. Jumping moves are very annoying to get ahold of, the puzzles are tedious, and if you can get through all that, you'll find that the game is actually a breeze to get through. The graphics are colorful, but nothing that pushes the GBA to it's limits. It's too bad that THQ didn't put more thought into designing this game, I for one would have enjoyed it if you could play as other characters than just Buffy; adding Xander, Willow, Riley, or even Giles would have been fun given each has different abilities, but oh well. All in all, this game is worth a look for fans of the series that own a GBA, but all others should leave this on the shelf.

I am the biggest buffy fanatic ever so this game was LOADS of fun for me! <3 I love all the Buffy games though. IF your a buffy fan BUY THIS! I bought a game boy advance just so I could play this game!

this game buffy the vampire slayer wrath of the darkhaul king is great. i've gotten on other website's and read reviews about this game. and the said that is sucked there crazy. if your a huge fan of buffy the vampire slayer then you should get this game. if you are not a fan and don't like buffy. don't bother

Although the graphics are an improvement over the Gameboy Color Buffy game, I wasn't overly impressed by the gameplay in this new Buffy game for Gameboy Advance. Between levels, there is dialogue between the characters which are now real stills from the show, though just the same ones used over and over again. It's still an improvement over the drawn characters in the GBC Buffy game, but I was disappointed at the lack of characters. As with the last GBC Buffy game, there was no Spike (James Marsters), who happens to be my favorite character. In the stills, the only characters were Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, and Anya. Riley is in the game but only has a helpful character during boss battles. The bosses do include the Gentlemen and Adam from the show, as well as the new Darkhul King (who proved to be incredibly easy for being the ultimate bad guy in my opinion).

One of the things that really threw me off about this game was the controls. They were quite awkward, and made for a somewhat frustrating gaming experience. For instance, to jump you have to use R1, which hard to use on a regular basis. Not to mention that there were alot of difficult jumps to perform in the game. This was very frustrating at times. The game was relatively short, with only 16 levels that are pretty short. The puzzles were ok, though seemed somewhat out of place at times. The music was repetitive and annoying, and not anywhere near as neat as the music on the show. I think if the makers would have spent just a little more time on this game, it could've been alot of more fun for fans.

Average game. Nothing speacial. Very fun for fans; not so much for not fans. Now all we need is an Angel game(i sure hope so)

Buffy is a great game! It has great weaponry, it has fantastic graphics, and the game uses real characters from the show! The only reason I cut a star is that it is very short, but when you play a game like this, you will want to play it over and over. My suggestion is if you are looking for fun, Buffy comes first!

I have been a big fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series ever since it has been on TV. The show has everything you need in a show: Horror, comedy, romance, suspense, and action all rolled into one action-packed hour. And on November 6, 2001, Buffy the Vampire Slayer made television history by making the best musical episode ever for a television series. "Once More, Feeling" is the episode title that sweeped the nation. I was hooked, and now video games are being released on GameCube, XBox, and now Game Boy Advance. I'm glad that they have finally decided to release a Buffy game for Game Boy Advance, now I can have just as much fun playing my favorite characters in my hands, as well as watching them kick [butt] on the tube. If you are a slayer fan, there won't be a doubt that you should buy the Game Boy Advance game, "Buffy the Vamprie Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King," a great new game to your collection.