My 1st impressions after beating Circle of the Moon. Focuses more on exploration, less on bosses.
The difficulty was a big problem too, all the bosses patterns are rather easy to get down, and the "boomerang" weapon easily breaks this games difficulty. I seriously killed death on my first try simply because I spammed boomerangs, it really gets to the point that no other weapon should be used. It is not so much an issue of a broken weapon, I love those in single player games, but the fact it just distracts so much attention to actual strategy in a Castlevania game is sad. One of the bigger parts of Castlevania is fighting "monsters and demons" from different myths and having a difficult time till you finally nail a pattern down and beat them. This Castlevania, however was all about boomerang spam.
Aside from boss fights, I do like this game a bit, and I have to say its one of the better GBA Castlevania games.The story is sub par, really isn't there the majority of the time, but the music is a nice call back to the old school games. I like the fact you can use a whip, but this is probably due to using a lot of different weapons in the games I have been playing before it. Either way, it makes a nice design choice as a lot of the game really does make use for the whip itself. I also really like the fact this game plays a bit more like Metroid then it does Castlevania compared to the other ones. See, in Castlevania its simple grind and exploration, but with Metroid you're always looking for something to further your progress. CotM however, works more like Metroid making its main focus on exploration and movement, compared to bosses and grinding, which I suppose is the trade up for what was mentioned earlier. Nonetheless, I have to say I enjoyed this game quite a bit, especially considering I played through it within a matter of two days. While the game is indeed short, especially for those a little more skilled, CotM does have a nice niche of replay value as you can play through the game again focusing on different aspects of the games mechanics. If your more into spells you can be a magician instead, or if you want to focus on strength then you can do that. Its an interesting bonus for sure, and frankly should be added to more Castlevania games. But for now, I think Castlevania is better off following the lead of Order of Ecclesia than Circle of the Moon.
Conclusion: What it lacks in creative and challenging bosses, Circle of the Moon makes up for pure exploration, nostalgic music, and interesting ways to replay. While I can't recommend this over most of the Castlevania games I played, it still has the addictiveness of any Castlevania game, and that should be a good enough sale for anyone.