Classic castlevania returns!
GAMEPLAY: This game Returns Castlevania to it's cIassicc, 2D pltforming, non-Metroid-like roots. Castlevania Adventure Rebirth is a remake of an old Gameboy game "The Castlevania Adventure." I never played this gameboy game so I cannot really compare if the remake is better or not, but oh well.
This game is rather short, and is only compromised of 6 stages, the final stage just being the final battle with the ever-so-persistant Dracula. You could easily beat this game in one sitting...or, well, you HAVE to beat this game in one sitting, because there is no save feature in this game. And no, you can't just pause the game with the Wii menu and then return to the Wii home menu with hopes the game willl keep you where you are at. If you want to beat this game, it's gotta be in one sitting. But this isn't really much of an issue since again, this game is very short.
And one thing that's nice is that you can customize your game to match your skill level. For one, you can choose how many lives you want. If you are just starting this game, or if Adventure Rebirth is your first Castlevania game, you can always start out with 9 lives to make things easier for you, or if you play this game alot and get accustomed to it, you can always keep it at the normal amount of lives, or even less. Also, there are two control types, Normal and cIassic. Normal is the, well, normal control setting of the game, while the cIassic setting makes the controls feel more stiff, like the cIassic NES castlevania games where once you jump in a direction, you go in that direction and can't move around in the air. CIassic is for those who want to challenge themselves and/or for fans of the NES castlevanias want to have a bit of a nostalgic experience. me personally I did not care for the NES titles (one of the reasons being the stiff controls) so I just stick with normal.
The gameplay is what you'd expect from any 2d Castlevania platformer. You go through each stage whooping evil ass with the vampire killer, finding subweapons, hearts,whip enhancements, coins, and other random items to net you more points to eventually gain you an extra life.
This game does have multiple paths, though this game doesn't expand on it as much as Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse did. In Adventure Rebirth, Going different paths will not make you go to different stages or substages nor decide what extra character you bring along (because Adventuure Rebirth does not have any other playable character other than Chris Belmont); you still always go in the same stages each playthrough. In this game taking different paths just simply makes it so you can experience a stage differently, and in effect make each playthrough a different experience if you wish, plus get different items. So there is replay value with this game, with there being secrets to find and different paths to make each playthrough different, there's reason to come back this game, along with the fact that the game is just plain fun.
Now unfortunately Konami has yet again neglected adding the 8-way whipping that was in Super Castlevania IV. I don't get why they don't add it in any other 2D Castlevania games, the 8-way whipping in Super Castlevania IV was awesome, and made fighting enemies more entertaining. What they could have done was add 8-way whipping in normal mode and then take it away in cIassic mode so cIassic mode still retains the feeling of the NES Castlevanias, and also make both normal and cIassic modes be that much more different.
PRESENTATION: The graphics in this game are decent, nothing really special too special, but still nice to look at. It certainly is quite an update from the Gameboy game.
The music on the other hand, is pretty meh overall. Nothing really jumps out at me, and some of the midi sounds they used were quite bland. It's unfortunate really, Castlevania games are usually known for their great soundtracks, and this one disappoints, though Adventure Rebirth isn't the only castlevania game guilty of this *cough* Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance *cough*
A good amount of music in this game are remade pieces from past Castlevamia games. The tune from the first stage of this game is the tune from the first stage of Castlevania Bloodlines, the mini-boss and boss themes in this game are boss themes from some obscure Japanese Arcade Castlevania game, the final boss's third form music is from Castlevania III's second to last stage. etc.
OVERALL: Those who enjoy the older Castlevanias will find enjoyment from Adventure Rebirth, or any castleevania fan should give this game a check. It's a short but fun game that you will want to come back to, and maybe playthrough differently. This game gets a 7.5/10.