About Athena

Before I started playing this game I read that this is considered to be one of the weaker NES games out there. At first I was pleasantly surprised, considering that this game looks much better than the (quite bad looking) C64 version that I already knew (and didn't like). And the first level wasn't bad at all. But the game gets worse with each level. The difficulty level is much too high. Even with walkthrough and cheats I had to curse this game numerous times. Controls are bad and there is much much sprite flickering. When being hit, you get thrown back too far. With the wrong weapon choice you suddenly are stuck in places where it is necessary to break walls and backtracking is not possible, or bosses become unbeatable. Important items are too well hidden and suddenly you find yourself at the beginning of a level and ask yourself what you have done wrong and what item you might have missed.