Vimm's Lair: NES Reviews - Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos

Nintendo
Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
7.36
7.45
7.36
7.41
Votes: 22
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: sirkakkarot Date: Jun 15, 2001
Excellent game. One of my favorite games of the NES era. Solstice is a very difficult adventure/puzzle game (I really don't know what genre Solstice falls into) where your mission *gasp!!* is to rescue a fair damsel in distress. The story has been done before, but the gameplay has been done very few times since. You play the role of a wizard named Shadax, who witnesses his woman Eleanor being kidnapped by the vile sorcerer Morbius. Your mission is to recover the 6 pieces of the staff of demnos which will grant you immortality and allow you to defeat Morbius and save your fair maiden.

On with the the scores:

Graphics: 9

These were pretty good graphics for the nes. The game utilized an pseudo 3d isometric perspective. One of the first attemts at 3d gameplay on the console. The only qualm I have is that Shadax doesn't cast a shadow, which makes it very difficult in places to correctly judge your jumps. Other than that, the graphics are pretty darn good for this type of game.

Sound: 6

There really isnt any sound effects to speak of except when you use one of Shadax's 4 magic potions. The music can get pretty repetitive after a while but it's not to big a deal. The music is generally pretty good.

Gameplay: 10

Here is where the game shines. Excellent gameplay. VERY challenging. There will be places in the game where you WILL get stuck, and have no idea how to proceed. You may very well want to put your fist through the monitor at some points in the game. But once you figure out a particular room, it's very satisfying. And like I mentioned, sometimes its very difficult to judge your jumps, which leads to some very cheap deaths. Still it just adds to the challenge. (to me anyway)

Overall: 9

This is a very fine game. It gave me hours of enjoyment back in the day, and I still play it occasionally. If you're itching for a challenging adventure for the NES. You could do worse than this game.