Nightcaster II: Equinox

There is no continual background music; however, when something comes near you it plays this annoying little ditty until it is vanquished. Then, it is silent again. Oh, I forgot something: the enemies are only beatable because of having infinate lives. 7500 bad guys that can withstand 100000 hits each tackle you at each battle, all while you can only withstand 3 hits, of which are continual, without using one of your 5 lives.

STAY AWAY!!! There is a reason that AMAZON no longer carries this!


Much improved over the original--sure to be a rare game   May 23, 2003
 16 out of 18 found this review helpful

First of all, let me state that I believe Nightcaster II will be one of those rare titles that, in a few years, may be worth quite a bit since many gamers have passed it up and the number of copies for sale in stores is actually quite low. With that said, let's go on to the game.

Reading some of the reviews that other members have posted for NCII, you may be tempted to pass the game up, particularly if you've played the horrendous Nightcaster 1. Now keep in mind that I am a very picky gamer and I also hated NC1, but figuring that Jaleco had time to improve much of what went wrong in the first game, I decided to give NC2 a shot and I was pleasantly surprised! The game is still not perfect, but it does appear that much of what I hated in the first has been addressed, and the style of play is more appealing now.

First off, the graphics are better. The orb gives off realtime shadowing effects to background objects, bump mapping is used, and the overall dark atmosphere helps keep you in suspense. The point of view is still a little claustrophobic, but the camera and orb controls have thankfully gotten better. Melee fighting is now actually a big part of the game and you can string together combos--you actually get fighting-game style bonuses when you kill enemies in combos with weapons/and or magic! The spells are MUCH more useful this time around and far easier to use..some actually home in and auto-target enemies and each spell seems to do a good amount of damage regardless of which character you use, so the endless spell cycling prevalent in the first game is not as necessary now. RPG elements now exist! You can level up and assign attributes to you character, and the levels are massive and better structured, plus the map screen tells you how many enemies are on this particular map as well as how many special items (artifacts) remain. YOU CAN NOW SAVE ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME!! Thankfully, the biggest issue with the first game was the limited saves. Also, 2 players can play cooperatively and you can pick from two different characters for the solo adventure! The adventure seems more cohesive now and I actually found it fun to roam through the maps rooting out every single enemy and item. I like the fact that enemies will not respawn after you've cleared a map.

The production quality is quite good and overall, I found Nightcaster II to be a big improvement and a pleasant surprise. If you can find a copy, buy it. Give it a chance and you may be surprised!


SWEET!   May 13, 2003
 0 out of 10 found this review helpful

I fell in love the moment I layed eyes on it!