Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - Nightshade

Nintendo
Nightshade

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
8.43
7.64
9.14
8.79
Votes: 14
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: sirkakkarot Date: Jun 15, 2001
Nighshade is a very entertaining, very satisfying adventure game. In Nightshade you play the role of (guess who?) Nightshade! His mission is to save Metro city from the evil grasp of Sutekh and his minions. Nightshade is the only game of its kind on the NES that I know of. It is similar to some PC classics like King's Quest, where you collect items then use them at certain points to proceed. It also switches to a fighting game style mode when you encounter one of sutekh's evil goons, which adds some spice to the gameplay.

The scores:

Graphics: 9

Very good graphics considering this is the NES we're talking about. The graphics to a good job of portraying a dark city, full of corruption. Similar to the dark feel of Batman's Gotham city. Some character sprites could have used more detail, which is why the game got a 9 in graphics.

Sound: 7

The sound effects are average for an NES game. The NES didn't have the best of sound effects in any game, but considering the hardware the game is on, the sound is ok. Punches sound like punches, kicks sound like kicks and so on.

Gameplay: 10

This game was unique because of the ""reputation"" meter. The more good deeds you do, villains you defeat, etc. Your reputation goes up. Some people will only give you information if your reputation is a certain level. Its simple, earn the respect of the people as their hero, and they help you. Nightshade had some of the best gameplay of the NES era. I waited in vain for a sequel for years, but no sequel ever came.

Overall: 9

Excellent game. It's really a shame this game was so overlooked. I really wanted a sequel to this game. If you haven't played it, give it a try. You will most likely be pleasantly surprised. Easily on of my top 10 NES games.