For those who have been around the block a bit on the PS2 the gameplay instantly reminds you of the classic Devil May Cry series and it should, probably because the same publisher was responsible for it and you can tell game engine mechanics were shared, mostly because of the camera sometimes betraying you, but more on that later. Starting out in the main town itself you run around in a 3D environment opening doors, finding secret passages and areas and collecting enough souls in order to visit the local store to upgrade your abilities and health. At this point I need to point out that why is it so many games have these shopkeepers that profit from disasters or other town/country/planet problems? Forgotten Worlds has a shopkeeper that has tons of cool guns that if she wanted too you could use from the start and totally blow away those aliens who took over the world. I sometimes wonder if this is me over analyzing stuff or games developers trying to point out that one of the reasons things like war even exist is because a small number of people make so much cash from it. Interesting though for sure.

Gameplay is very standard hack ‘n slash with all of the usual jumping and special attack moves that eventually mean you can reach a new secret area or obtain an item in order to proceed, the game itself feels very open however there are multiple barriers, just so happens they are superbly hidden behind a great story pacing and design. The Soul Catcher is essentially your main weapon that feels and acts just like a whip and by using it to destroy enemies you can collect a huge number of spirits that in turn become currency. Standard play however means actually affording things in the shop will be hard because the prices are mega steep. By exploring the town you can find farming areas with constantly spawning creatures to get round this and although that’s great it does become a tad tiresome after a while.

The world of play is extremely well presented with a theme that is constant such as dark and drab colours ( I hope you like the colour grey?) however several items such as the Soul Robber are bright green, as are the souls you collect and along with many other background details helps to create a look that never feels old or samey, whoever was in charge of art direction did wonders with a very limited colour palette. The areas themselves such as the town of Halloween, the Graveyard, crypts etc all have a striking look which is something the movie did so well with, it’s clear that this was very much a project of passion and not some lame movie tie-in game released next to the film that ultimately sucks and is there to get some cash (I’m looking at you Activision Transformer games!) 

Much like Devil May cry the main meat of the game itself is as mentioned before running around hacking up standard enemies, however this is all a prelude to the absolute star of the entire game, the music based boss battles! Your first taste of this will be at the end of the first chapter where you are in a large room facing off against Oogie and one of the songs from the film itself plays over your actual fight. It’s one of those things that’s very hard to explain in words hence the video attached to this review however it’s completely out of the box thinking for a game such as this and for me makes it an essential play. Presentation of the musical notes and parts of the attack/defend battle are all handled with such perfect execution you would swear Tim Burton himself did it. The music from the game is actually music from the movie with re-arranged words in some to give it that authentic feel, it’s genius!