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The PSP is definitely lacking in the quality character-driven action/adventure and platformer categories. Ape Escape and Dead to Rights was a fun enough diversion for a while, and Spider-Man 2 and Death Jr. had a few bright spots, but none has really represented its respective genre to its fullest on Sony's powerful portable. With MediEvil Resurrection on the way we were hoping to find something that would fill the void perfectly. But while the game makes a valiant attempt at being a great, notable action/adventure/platformer (or whatever), it never really succeeds.

As the story goes... One hundred years have passed since the evil Sorcerer Zarok was defeated at the Battle of Gallowmere when he was heroically cut down by a mortally wounded Sir Daniel Fortesque. Or at least, that's what the people were told; in fact, poor Sir Daniel Fortesque was a bit of a coward, falling in the very first wave of arrows. Now Zarok has returned, turning day into night, and raising an undead army to conquer the land. As a side effect, Sir Daniel Fortesque also has been resurrected... now, he has the chance to defeat Zarok and in death become the hero he never was in life.

As with the previous MediEvil titles (the last of which was released on the PSone in 2000) Resurrection is chock full of somewhat dry, British humor. SCEE Cambridge's writers did a good job in peppering the game with funny quips and one-liners, but not in such a way that makes you want to poke your eardrums in with a pencil. The humor definitely works, both in text and voice, and is one of the best aspects of the game.

The game also looks quite good, especially as compared to the PSone originals. MediEvil Resurrection sports a nice amount of detail and variety in the enemies, and the environments are nicely drawn and textured with a few bits of eye candy here and there. The framerate varies widely, anywhere from a chuggy 25fps all the way up to a silky smooth 60, and it's entirely dependent on the size of the area. Large outdoor areas take the biggest hit, and even more so when multiple enemies and effects enter the picture. The areas which do suffer from the framerate hit also have some control issues, which gets a bit frustrating, especially later on in the game.

MediEvil Resurrection sports a nice amount of voice work, with nearly every piece of character text narrated, along with a number of cut-scenes. The acting is also surprisingly good, and funny as well. Sir Dan's sidekick, Al Zalam the streetwise sarcastic genie who lives in his empty eye socket, has some laugh out loud funny lines. The rest of the audio is no slouch either. The orchestrated BGM is definitely nice, and the clanging of swords and weapons, and the ambient environmental effects come across nice and clear through the headphones. As with most games, the built in speakers don't fare as nicely, however.

There are many sights for you and Sir Dan to see, and things such as single, and multi-player (WiFi Ad-Hoc) minigames like herding sheep, whack a monster, and shooting galleries to keep you both busy. The problem is, MediEvil Resurrection starts out nicely with some fun levels to explore and easy to moderately tame enemies to slay, and then it suddenly becomes annoying. Even with powerful weapons and combos, the enemies found in the later stages take a long time to kill and they frequently sneak in some cheap hits. So instead of fighting, you end up running around just trying to hold onto that last bit of energy while looking for a safe place, an energy refill, or the way to complete the next goal. And when the framerate starts chugging at the same time, it just gets worse. In general the game controls well, and the camera behaves itself, but once things get hectic it begins to fall apart.

MediEvil Resurrection is a fun action adventure game with some redeeming qualities and a likable main character... if you can soldier past the not-so-fun parts and overlook some of the design flaws and engine issues. At least it's a good change of pace from the many racing games on the PSP roster.