Maximo vs. Army of Zin

• Title — Maximo vs. Army of Zin • Developer — Capcom Production Studio 8 • Publisher — Capcom • Director — Mark Rogers • Producer — Mark Rogers • Designer — Scott Rogers Dave Ralston • Programmer — Yoshi Hatano Keith Weatherly Narayanan Vaidyanathan Tetsuya Sakashita • Artist — Jonathan Casco Joe Pearson • Writer — Beau Smith • Composer — Tommy Tallarico Cris Leisch Sam Hulick Shane Keip Rob King Michael Richard Plowman • Series — Ghosts 'n Goblins • Platforms — PlayStation 2 • Genre — Action-adventure • Modes — Single-player

The story of the game follows on from Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, with Maximo still searching for his lost love, Sophia. He is again accompanied by Grim (a Grim Reaper). However, their search is interrupted as a series of mechanical creatures start to attack villages and slaughter the village folk. These creatures are the Army of Zin, an ancient army powered by lost souls, who were supposedly locked in the vault of Castle Hawkmoor after the last battle with them 500 years ago. However, they are now free, due to the actions of the mysterious warlord, Lord Bane.

Maximos gameplay is characterized by hack and slash combat and platforming, as well as an armour system where damage is reflected by loss of armour. Maximo begins the game with two levels of armour (full armour sans helmet), and can upgrade to three and four (with helmet and golden armour, respectively). Level one has Maximo reduced to boxer shorts. Another element of gameplay is the Grim transformation, allowing the player to turn into a Grim Reaper for short periods of time, with the souls gathered from the Army of Zin. Grim is invulnerable, powerful, and a touch faster than Maximo. However, the time spent in this form is limited but can be extended through upgrades. Maximo also receives bonuses from villagers that he saves from enemies in the game, and these rewards are anything from new armour to a word of advice.