This game is great man, probably my favorite classic arcade cabinet.

Crystal Castles is structurally very similar to Pacman, the key difference being its trippy, isometric levels, and trackball in place of joystick. Said levels are not only brilliant aesthetically, they also keep the game fresh, and an absolute blast to play. Where Pacman always maintains a steady pace, a skilled Crystal Castles player can zoom through levels at a breakneck pace, the only speed cap being how fast one can spin the trackball. As such, this game has a really high skill ceiling, and as much as I suck at it, I personally find chasing that ceiling a lot more satisfying than in many other arcade games. I always come back to this one when hitting up the Galloping Ghost.

(Also, this game's cabinet art is gorgeous, iirc the reason I picked it up in the first place.)

Reviewed on Nov 15, 2023


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