Dracula has resurrected and it's time to take him down!
GAMEPLAY ~
Alrighty, can you guess what the majority of this game you'll be doing? Oh, whipping, collecting, killing Dracula! Yup, that is the basis. It doesn’t stretch too far from what Konami has done in the past. The controls work nicely but would have liked to see the sub-weapon maybe on the "R" switch like CV4. Besides that it's your basic Vania 2D side-scroller. Originally this game was for the Saturn. I own a Saturn, but acquired one late in it's life, so I was oust on many of the best titles. They say it is a major change, I wouldn't know.
The basic creatures (all 10) gave you a good run for your money, and the bosses were quick to dispatch you since they didn't have a set pattern to follow. The thing that really made me stop was when I rescued a damsel in distress with a "key" sub-weapon... but the princess was in another castle... or tower... or place...
Who knows, but I know I’ve seen that somewhere else.. hmmm
STORY ~
You are Richter Belmont that bad bad man Blackula... I mean Dracula, has been resurrected and kidnaps your girlfriend (Annette)... why is it that Dracula comes back to life to steal a girl? Doesn’t he have better things to do? Anyway, he takes her.. and her friend (Maria)... and rents a room... just play the game already, I’m getting bored making stuff up!
GRAPHICS ~
For it's time (1995) they were some of the best around! Thought probably a helluvalot better for the Saturn they transfer well to the cartridge based SNES. The enemies were your basic breeds featured in many of the future Vania titles. The bosses however weren't too impressive and left alot to be desired. The background and stage layout were brilliantly developed and don't seemed hindered by the CD to Cart transfer. In all the game looks good and there was hardly any slow-downs. Very nice indeed.
SOUND ~
Eh, the music was good, can't say I was too impressed with most of it. Alot of the earlier stages were synth-rock track and as in all the Vania titles you will get a rework of Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears, so enjoy it! Because it was far better than alot of the other games available at this time.
REPLAYABILITY ~
Actually, there wasn't much to go back and do. Yeah you can rank up your score, but that isn’t very entertaining. It reality you will be playing it over and over again because of it's difficulty. There is, as always, the faulty password system which I’ve always hated, But to many it's easiest way to get where their going, I personally never liked it.
OVERALL ~
A fun Castlevania titles that, with a bit of sprucing would have a nice run on the GBA system. It does deal the same gameplay as all the other Vania titles, but it's difficulty could entice those looking for a challenge.