WHY do people love this game so much???

User Rating: 6.5 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night X360
By TheAt0m | Review Date:
I am a fan of the Castlevania series, but this is definitely not one of my favorites. I find it really irritating when games incorporate "secrets" that are completely unsolvable from the player's point of view. If it is absolutely necessary to look up a walk-through online in order to complete a game, I tend to question the game designers' decisions on some of these "secrets." In my opinion, I prefer a game to have "challenges" as opposed to "secrets" that make completing a game difficult. Take, for example, Ninja Gaiden for Xbox. That game was extremely challenging, but well designed so that the player could be guided in the correct path toward completing the game. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had many obscure secrets that took away from the game-play.

Another aspect of the game-play that I did not like was the lack of weapons and/or weapon customization. There are only a few different weapons in this game and none of them are very impressive. It would have been nice to have more selection and maybe some nice effects when they were being used.

The graphics in the game were terrible. I know this game is old, but the graphics really could have been updated for the Xbox Live Arcade.

The sound in this game is actually pretty good. Its exactly what I look for in a Castlevania game. There are different songs that play in the background as you move from area to area in the castle. This really makes you feel like you're in a different place as you progress through the game.

This game is one of the more expensive games on Xbox Live Arcade, but I really put in a lot of hours playing it. It really is a long game and (if you like it enough) you can play the game a second time with a few changes in gameplay. I won't spoil anything for you, just in case you choose to play this game.

Overall, I would only recommend this particular Castlevania game to those who do not have a Wii or DS. If you are more of a purist, download some games from the Wii. Athough, I feel that the best Castlevania games are on the DS. The graphics are much easier on the eyes and the gameplay is much more fluid than Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Also, the DS does a great job providing the player with a large selection of customizable weapons.

Gameplay - 6
Graphics - 4
Sound - 9
Value - 8
Tilt - 6

Other Helpful Reviews for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Load Comments (0)