The newest face in the Castlevania series and he does the series justice!
GAMEPLAY ~
Unlike the other Castlevania series helmed by the whip possessing Belmont clan on their trek to kill Dracula. This time around we get the honor of playing as Soma! The Mega Man of the Castlevania series! Now I say "Mega Man" because Soma has the unique ability to absorbed the sprits of the monsters he kills and use them to his advantage.
There are 3 different kinds of spirits, Red, Blue, and Yellow. Red is the basic offensive attacks used by pressing up on the D-Pad and attacking normally. Blue is the special offensive attacks used by pressing the "L" trigger. An Yellow is the defensive abilities which auto use when equipped.
The best new adaptation to this franchise is the ability to equip new weapons instead of the average whip. These include swords, spears, lances, knuckles, and a gun! Guns are cool, Soma is like the Dante (DMC) of the Castlevania series! Except not as boring! Than you have the average sliding, jumping, quick dodging and... no running, Soma is slow, but he is no Belmont!
Anyway, easy controls, classic side-scrolling, the way Castlevania should be.
STORY ~
Soma an that girl (who I can't remember her name) are transported to Dracula’s castle which appears during a world-wide Solar Eclipse! Now you must transverse his castle and locate the source of the darkness that keeps them trap within Dracula's castle!
GRAPHICS ~
The GBA seems to always put a good foot forward when presenting newer games, and this one was no exception. For this title I decide to play it on my "Game Boy Player" a rare feat for me, since I never use it (mainly because it seems to make everything all fuzzy) but this game was the exception. It really looked nice and the backgrounds looked awesome.
The mass amount of weapons were cool as well and the enemies that bleed like a sunuva! The map was huge, but not confusing in the least. It lead you right where you belonged, unlike other Vania titles that seem to lead you in ever direction it possible could! I think the greatest achievement was the lack of slowdowns when bigger monsters were on the screen. An some enemies were huge!
SOUND ~
The lowest part of this title was the overall sound. I really shouldn't be bashing the music because it is a GBA title, but it really wasn’t a highlight to the game. It was mostly synth-rock-esk tunes with random waltz beats in the background. It wasn't impressive, unlike other Vania titles that build a darker feeling, but I guess new titles need new directions. The SFX weren't too bad, the weapon swings and strikes were cool, monsters groans were awesome, and than you get hit... an it makes a goofy squishy sound. Very annoying over a long period of time.
REPLAYABILITY ~
Let me say it right from the start, this game is not long, but there is allot to do whilst moving throught his castle. There is alot to go back an collect from completing the spirit book of enemies and the three different ending to this title is worth attempting to figure out the sequence to finding all three! Than there is the bonus game of playing as Julius Belmont. All his journey is the originally game just completed by Soma, except no spirits and a weak ass whip, so maybe playing this is only for those hardcore Vania fans. The biggest downfall to the replayability was the lack of a "Quick Save" option, which should be an option on any RPG for any hand-held system. I hate playing a game at work duirng my break an having to backtrack five minutes to the last save point, very tiresome.
OVERALL ~
A great title that is heightened by the new original gameplay. This shows just how far you can take a series if enough thought is put behind actual creativity. Next up on the list, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrows!