Castlevania's first foray on the GBA is nothing short of an amazing game.
Story- 8/10
Let's face it; the Castlevania series is not known for its deep, intriguing story lines, and CotM is no different. Basically, it starts off just as Dracula is being (once again) resurrected by one of his devoted followers. Right after the ritual is complete, the main character, Nathan Graves, his master, and his master's son rush into the room and the master is captured. Nathan and the son are cast into a very deep hole, but survive. The son tells Nathan to stay out of this and runs off to find his father. Then Nathan goes to do same. And there you have it, basically most of the story in the intro. The only things really worth mentioning are that although all three characters are vampire hunters, they don't seem to be related to the Belmont clan at all. Also, the whip used by Nathan is the Hunter Whip, not the Vampire Killer. So why such a high score for a lackluster story? Because its a Castlevania game and you can't really ask for more.
Gameplay- 9.5/10
CotM plays a lot like Symphony of the Night. Instead of the classic linear level design, its more open ended. It's pretty much a gothic version of Super Metriod. Just like in Samus' SNES adventure, to travel farther through the game, you must find a specific item that gives you a new ability. To get that item, you usually must defeat one of the game's impressive bosses. During your quest, you'll face of against a necromancer, a duo of undead dragons, and the three-headed hellhound Cerberus. These fights are very entertaining as most bosses are several times your size. The game's normal enemies are also great. While many are rehashed from previous games, they have gotten a makeover for their GBA debut. While there are many different kinds of enemies, unfortuantly many are just given a fresh coat of paint as you get farther in the game. For example, there are many diferent varaieties of demons. There is an earth demon, and thunder demon, a wind demon, etc. Each of these is basically a color swap of the same design with different powers. The same can be said about the living armor enemies. There is a magic system that involves cards obtained form enemies, but I wont go into detail about this compicated system. Fianlly, this game seems to be a tad more challenging than SotN and its more recent GBA brothers, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. Definatly not a game for someone looking to get into the series for the first time.
Graphics- 9/10
This game is beautiful. Smooth animations combined with the amazing sprites and backrounds form a hauntingly deep playing experience. Deep colors and great use of textures bring the Count's castle to life. Each area of the castle is uniquely disigned and prevents repitition of level design. The only problem I've seen was that the game was too dark on the standard GBA. Since we now have our GBA SP's and DS Lites, this really isn't a problem anymore. Oh, and like I stated before, the bland design of some of the enemies keeps this section from a perfect 10.
Sound- 9/10
In the sound effects department, this game is gold. You can hear every footstep you take. This may be a "who cares?" statement, but it just shows the detail the developers put into their work. The same can be said about other noises, like the crack of your whip. As for music, there is no dissapointment here. The music perfectly suits the mood of the level and ranges from remixes of classic Castlevania games to original compostions. While the music is good, it's just shy of what I would expect from the music of the series.
Control- 10/10
The controls are spot on in this game. It's incredibly easy to contol your character through his long quest. Well, thats all there really is to say about control...
Well I've rambled on long enough. In short, if you own a GBA or DS and are looking for a quality sidescrolling adventure, look no further. I do suggest you have some experience with the series because of the difficulty though. This is a must have for your portable game collectiton.