A 3D spin off of the Ghosts N Goblins franchise, and a very worthy one at that. Maximo is one of the most punishing games I have played - and let's not confuse hard with punishing - compared to it's big brother franchise, the gameplay of Maximo is challenging and very fair. There is no bullshit in it's design, it is a well designed 3D action platformer at it's best. The punishing aspect comes from the fact that if you want to actually beat this game, you cannot make many mistakes; this is because the game actually has limited continues, in the sense where if you lose all your lives you have to start from the beginning of the game (or your last save)... The problem is that if you want to save your game, you need to pay 100 coins each save, which is not quick and easy to get. However if you take your time to learn the game, you will be able to get through with no issue. If you just want the challenge without the worry that you'll need to replay the game again if you die enough times, I recommend using an unlimited continues cheat which actually makes the game still challenging but less punishing. It's a shame Maximo didn't quite take off like Ghosts and Goblins did as I actually prefer it to it's big brother. It is a true underrated gem on the PS2.