Welcome back to Castlevania. Let's stay a while shall we?
BASIC STORY:
You are Alucard, son of Dracula (which is the same spelled backwords), woken up from what was supposed to be an eternal sleep when Dracula has been resurrected once again. First you start off the game playing as Richter Belmont in the final battle with Dracula from the SNES Dracula X title. This is an incredible intro to the game, and is one of my favorite video game bosses to date, even though it is impossible to die in this intro battle as Maria will come to Richter's aid if your health is depleted.
Once you "defeat" Dracula, the game starts with some scrolling text that tells you what is going on, and gives you a run down on what has occured. You see Alucard running through the forest, and jumping over the drawbridge right before it closes, to embark on your mission to destroy Dracula's castle once and for all. This story has been done a million times in Castlevania titles, but up until this game it never was done this good, and with so much effort put into it.
GAMEPLAY:
If I only had one word to describe it, it would have to be PERFECT. The gameplay is so good that when you jump or slash with your sword, you feel like you are in the game. I can't describe it any other way. If you have played it you know what I mean. It's like a cross between Shinobi, Mario, and Super Metroid. This game just feels good to play, and there is never a moment where you don't feel like you are in total control of Alucard or Richter. Also, there are so many ways to use items, and so many spells and transformations to aquire in this epic journey that makes this game never feel stale. Let me explain:
First let's talk about sub-weapons. There are daggers, axes, holy water, holy wafers (I think that's what they are anyway), and this diamond laser beam that bounces off of walls, ceilings, and floors. These items are powered by hearts, and you get hearts by hitting candles throughout the castle, just like every Castlevania game. My favorite are the daggers because of how fast you can hold up on your joystick/d-pad and throw them.
There are also hundreds of assorted items and weapons you will find throughout the game's two castles. Yes, I said two castle's but I'll get into that later. The items and weapons you find vary from swords, shields, armor, capes, food, jewelry, and many other things. There are even nunchakus and spiked knuckles to find. Not to mention, most enemies drop specific items and weapons that you can only get by killing them and picking them up. Some of these items and weapons are so powerful that you will literally want to kill that same enemy hundreds of times just to get them. Even with all of my playthroughs, I still haven't found every single item, and that's a good thing about the game. It has infinite replayability in that aspect alone.
There is a very good money system in the game as well that allows you to buy weapons, spells, items and other things from a merchant in the library section of the castle. I recommend selling most of the jewelry you aquire throughout the game, as this is also a good way to get lots of money. The best way is to find a candle that once you hit it, drops a money bag, then just go back and forth in and out of that room repeatedly getting it. You can even buy tutorials for beating bosses. They literally thought of everything when they were making this game.
Spells add a dynamic twist on the game, and this is the first Castlevania that has this amazing feature. There are several that you can do at the beginning of the game that use what I would call "Street Fighter-esque" motions to perform. Don't worry though, as you can beat the game without ever having to do any of these moves if you aren't good at multi-directional quick inputs like in fighting games. They are just there for you if you choose to use them. The best ones in my opinion are "Soul Steal", which takes the life force of any creature or object in the room (even candles), and adds 8 HP to your life bar. the other is "Dark Metamorphosis" which let's blood spilled from creatures heal you as long as you are touched by the blood when you cut them. Also, many weapons in the game have their own spells, and I recommend using a faq from www.gamefaqs.com to see which weapons have this function, as it would be impossible to guess all of them. There are more spells I haven't mentioned, but I don't want to give too much away if any of you haven't played the game yet.
There are also some familiars that you meet and will be your CPU controlled partner. These are pretty cool and they consist of a fairy, demon, skull, bat, and sword. They all will attack enemies randomly, and you can use spells just for them, but sometimes they'll just do those on their own as well. The fairy is pretty useful, as she will heal you if you get really hurt with a potion. There are a few times when she revived me when I died using one of my items. The sword familiar is definitely my favorite though, and once you upgrade him far enough you can actually equip him as a super powerful weapon. The others are useful as well, but I won't ruin any more surprises for you.
Transformations are a big part of the game. You eventually earn the ability to transform into bat, wolf, and mist. After you gain these transformations, you get to further enhance them with different attacks and functions. I won't give them all away but there are several of these. My favorite being the poisonous mist that let's you just hover around, hurting every enemy you touch without them being able to hurt you. The transformations also let you gain access to places in the first castle that you couldn't get to before. Overall these transformations become very important throughout the game, and are a cool addition to Alucard's arsenal.
Earlier I mentioned a second castle, and I just wanted to tell you a little about it before I move on. I'm sure that a ton of people beat the first castle and thought they were done with the game. I am going to give you a super hint to tell you how to get to the second castle without really ruining anything storyline wise. I'll just say find the holy glasses before you engage in the battle with Richter, and you'll see a green orb to hit above his head. If you hit this orb and destroy it, without killing Richter, you'll gain access to the second castle, and be able to fight the best enemies, bosses, and eventually Dracula. It should also be noted that once you fully beat both castles with Alucard, you unlock Richter as a playable character to try it all over again. He is limited to just his whip and spells, but that's all he really needs since he is so powerful.
GRAPHICS:
Amazing 2D imagery. From the moment you boot this game up you will be amazed by how good it looks, especially for it's time. It looks even better on Xbox 360 and PS3 because of the smoothed out graphics (which can be toggled on or off). Every single sprite looks fantastic. Alucard has this awesome "trail shadow" effect that really makes him look like an even more bad ass than he already is. The sections of the castle all have their own feel, and look so good, you'll feel like you're there. This is the best looking 2D game I have ever seen. There have been a few games recently like Braid that have come out that look better per say, but that's only because it's more recent, and is in true HD. It should also be noted that this is the longest 2D game I have played as well. Braid, while it looks fantastic and is a great game can be beaten in 20-30 minutes. For it's time the graphics were amazing, and still are.
SOUND/MUSIC:
This game has some of the best video game music ever, just like the rest of the Castlevania series. This time instead of the usual MIDI format, there is an actual band/orchestral arrangement, that will absolutely blow your mind. From the moment you hear the battle music at the very beginning of the game, you will get a hint at the metal/classical vibe of the soundtrack. Every single song in this game is fantastic, and will get stuck in your head so much, you'll probably want to buy/download the soundtrack for the game. I did. When I think of epic video game music I always find myself remembering the following game series: Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Mario, Mega Man, and many others. Let's just say that if you don't even play this game, you should at least youtube search for Castlevania: SOTN and preview some of these amazing pieces of work. I have a friend on youtube that does some of the best video game piano renditions named NightShader1.
Now let's talk about the sound. The sound effects match the music in quality. Every enemy has their own set of sound effects, as does every different weapon, spell, and item. Everything sounds great, and there are definitely no complaints in this department for me. There is some voice acting in the game that can come off as "cheesy" to some, but chances are you will enjoy it. Alucard and Dracula's voices are awesome, while Richter and Maria sound a little stale compared to them, but this won't affect the game experience at all. I'm just glad that they put it in there to give the cast more character.
FINAL WORD:
This is a must buy game if you are a fan of 2D side scrollers the likes of Mario, Metroid, and Mega Man. I personally have always loved the Castlevania series, and even today in 2010, this is still a fantastic 2D game that has not been outdone on a console since it's release well over ten years ago. I haven't played many of the DS Castlevanias, but I know that they are very good as well. They borrow a lot from this game though, and I'm not sure if they are better, but this is the best place to start if you want to get into the Castlevania series. Alucard is such a cool character, and to this day probably my favorite video game character of all time. He really stands out with the legends like Mario, Link, Cloud (FFVII), Sonic, Solid Snake (also a Konami character), and all the rest. You'll see if you play it, and if you already have, then you know what I'm talking about. It's one of those games that really is close to perfect, if not completely perfect. It plays great, it sounds great, and it looks great. What more is there to a game? I can't say it enough, I love this game, and I feel like anyone can get into it, and have a great time. I recommend downloading it for your Xbox 360 or PS3 if you have one. It will be very hard to find, and pretty expensive for the original playstation if you go looking for the original. There is nothing in the original that isn't is the updated one either. What are you waiting for? It's only $10, and I guarantee it's the best, cheapest game out there to add to your library. Go buy it now. Trust me. It's the best of it's kind, and really deserves the 10 I gave it. I can't wait to play this new Castlevania that's coming out on Xbox 360 and PS3, but Castlevania has always shined where it started, the realm of 2D. Here's hoping that they can finally get a Castlevania in 3D right, but I doubt anything will come out anytime soon that can rival this classic 2D masterpiece.
.
Thank you so much for reading this review. I feel like this is one of my best.
Until next time.
-badron11