Simon? Again? Well I’ll give him another chance... ...for the third time...
So if you are new to the Vania series... or just curious... read on.
GAMEPLAY ~
This game has two games inside it! It's like a buy one get one free sale! Except the difference between the games is minimal. There is two modes you can play, ARRANGED and ORIGINAL. Remember both of the games play exactly the same. The difference is the options. Arranged has all the options, whilst original has nothing. The options are difficulty setting (easy, normal, hard) sound adjustments (SFX / BGM), and an interview with some guy involved with the Vania franchise. The original game has NOTHING to offer but a sound-test... which if you read on, that isn't too impressive.
Both games have the option to invert the controls, which made basic Vania romping enjoyable. But this game shouldn't take a veteran under 2 hours to complete this game on both easy and normal. The biggest problem I had was the screen. Which was adjustable, but if you moved it a centimeter to the top or to the bottom you ether cut off your score and a wayward bat laying dormant on top, or make the stair cases on the floor hidden. You choose, I chose the first one... score don't matter if you die a million times.
In all, you probably didn’t buy this game for ORIGINAL mode. Because all the screen shots are of ARRANGED mode. So play ARRANGED mode and enjoy another wasted rework.
STORY ~
If you don't know the story to this Vania game, maybe you are the lucky one... lemme think for a minute...
Drunken Dracula has thrown a party for all his ghoulish friends. As all those monsters were doing the mash in the pale moonlight Simon appears and crashes the party in an attempt to foil Drunken Dracula's immortal celebration! This was far better than what they gave you in game... which was nothing! Enjoy!
GRAPHICS ~
I'll have to break this down because they gave you two of the same games with minor differences, lets begin with opening cut-scene.
ARRANGED:
You get a nice CG-3D image of two spiders confronting each other than it pans over to some druids during a ritual in where they toss blood upon the coffin (I guess it's Dracula) and than it starts to shatter!
ORIGINAL:
You get a lame 16-bit image of two spiders making out whilst the camera pans to a group of Klan’s men dressed in ritualistic blue garbs as they hold red water balloons over their heads One guy gets a little to involved and accidentally breaks it in his clutches sending red liquid onto the coffin before them, causing a pillar of light to emerge from it's now shattered remains.
Arranged is better.
Simon is the second change. In arranged Simon looks like a 32-bit cosplayer who is obsessed with Xena warrior princess and neon hair dye. In original mode Simon looks more like an 8-bit Olivia Newtown John in tan hot-pants. Both are bad, but I’ll choose arranged… again…
Everything else is the same. All the backgrounds, all the monsters, all the candles. Everything. The backgrounds do look nice and alot of other Vania stage areas return for a second usage. Some monsters are kinda lame like the "jump-rope" skeletons and that robed guy playing the trumpet who I beat obsessively on level two so he gives me what I want. Some of the bosses are new (like the bone-dragon) and some are used in other Vania titles (the Wizard is from the GB game Belmont’s Revenge) in all the graphics go best with arranged! An the backgrounds look great all around!
SOUND ~
Both games had terrible music. Arranged had some of the worst remixed tracks I’ve heard to date. The worst is the techno tingled version of Vampire Killer. You'll also get a few other tracks like "Simon's Theme" (used in the GB titles more for the victory theme) and the always awesome Bloody Tears, you know, the night song from Castlevania II.
The Original version had more basic 8-bit tracks with nothing new... which is sadly better than arranged. All other tracks aren't even memorable enough for me to mention them! The SFX aren't very apparent with the exception of breaking candles and whip smacks. It's all the same stuff you've encountered before.
REPLAYABILITY ~
I can say that the save option is the biggest replay factor. Everything else isn't worth the effort. This game won't hold your interest after the first run through, even the "extras" won't hold your attention. There is nothing left to do but go back and maybe raise your score... or better yet play a better Vania game...
OVERALL ~
This is indeed a “rare” game, I’ll give it that! But is it really worth searching out? An for a 30 dollar price tag “used” I would spend my energy searching out a better PSX Vania title, like lets say… Symphony of the Night!
An on that note, here is a quote directly from that game!
"What is a man?"
"A miserable little pile of secrets!"
- Dracula (SoTN)
I said this quote alot and here is why I reprised it again!
A) The scene before you battle Dracula in CC is reminiscent of the battle between Richter and Vlad in SotN (Which is just an upgrade of that same battle experienced in Dracula X).
B) Chronicles has no dialoged whatsoever nor any in-game storyline so any little bit helps!
...and...
C) You should have been playing Symphony of the Night!