A worthy successor to Symphony of the Night.
But then, 6 years later, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow hit the GBA, and used similar mechanics as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the game for the PlayStation. But would it be a simple knock-off of possibly the greatest game on the PlayStation, or would it bring something fresh to the series to be enjoyed? Let's find out.
The plot concerns someone named Soma Cruz, who is visiting a Solar Eclipse in Japan. But then Dracula's Castle opens up from the eclipse. Honestly, go figure. (However, There is an awesome plot twist towards the end of the game, but I'm not about to give it away.)
So what do you gotta do? Get the hell out, of course! You start the game with some casual clothing, and a pocketknife. So for equipment, you have a weapon, armor, and an accessory, although you don't start out with one. This seems like enough to protect you, however the game offers a huge addition: Souls. Basically, every enemy in the game has a soul. There is a small chance of getting this soul when you beat them. There are three types of souls: Souls that attack, souls that temporarily give you special powers, and souls with permanent defensive abilities. For example, I may be equipped with a soul that lets me throw an axe, a soul that lets me turn into a bat, and a soul that increases my attack by 12. In addition to a meter for your HP, there is a meter for the first two souls I mentioned. However, it slowly refills, and you can attack candles to get hearts that also refill it.
You use your souls that attack by holding up and pressing B. Sounds pretty familiar, right? You press R to use souls that give you special powers, and you can also press L to use abilities. Abilities are powers that you find on your way, some that you need to progress. For example, there is an ability that lets you double-jump which you need to get over high platforms. Other abilities make use of the L button, like the famous backdash. In other words, the control is great.
There are many weapons to be used that I mentioned above. You have knifes, swords, fist attachments, spears, axes, hammers, and even guns, just to name a few. (although guns are weak and ridiculously rare.) Where's the whip you may ask? We'll get into that in just a second. For armor, you have cloaks, and well, armor. It's up to you to decide which type of armor is the best. Some increase some stats, others increase others. As for accessories, you pretty much have rings. Rings can give you special powers, (as well as increasing stats) such as a greater chance for money to appear, (which you can spend at a shop at the beginning of the castle,) or making your MP increase faster.
The game is pretty much the right length. When I got to the end I felt it was pretty short, but it really depends on the person. I was 98.2% complete with the castle when I beat the game, but again, that's just me. But when you beat the game, (with the best ending,) and input Julius as your name, you can play as Julius, one of the Belmonts! Yup, that means a whip and an extra item. It's pretty cool, because you get all of the extra items from the first Castlevania. Unfortunately though, there's no dagger. You can switch between the items by pressing R, and use them by holding up and pressing B. L does this awesome dodge thing. Only problem, your second bar doesn't replenish by itself! So use your hearts and save points wisely. Oh, I should also mention that there is no leveling up: you get stronger when you beat bosses. There's also no equipment, souls, any of that. In fact, Julius comes with all of his abilities, so the game should be even shorter! You can't even bring up the start-screen, to pause, you must bring up the map!
The music varies from being kick-butt (LOL I would say kick you-know-what but you know...) to being kind of slow moving and uninteresting. However, a lot of the tracks are worthy of being put on your ipod, so, all in all, the game has nice music.
The graphics aren't as good as SoTN, (obviously) but they're still pretty cool looking, and for the GBA, they look good. One thing that bugs me though, some places have just a plain color for the background. Of course there's foreground and all that, but it still just doesn't look right. Castlevania IV seems to have the same problem.
All in all, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow lives up to the non-linear Castlevania name. It's an enjoyable experience for fans of SoTN and adventure/action games alike. It suffers from a few very minor flaws, but these are hardly noticeable as you play through the game. The game deserves a 92/100.