Behind it's terrible grammar is a game that still has that same Castlevania experience even though it's terribly flawed!
Now "Simon's Quest" is the official sequel to "Castlevania" on the NES. Unfortunately, the Game was bashed by many gamers particularly because of it's confusing clues. BUT! However I will tell you the truth about what kind of game it truly is!
The Story takes place 7 years after "Castlevania" after Simon Belmont vanquished Dracula. However, Dracula played his trump card and left a curse on Simon. Simon, now 31 years old enjoys a peaceful life when suddenly a maiden tells him that Dracula put a curse on him and that he has but a few days to get rid of it by burning Dracula's body parts at Castlevania (Dracula's Castle) , so Simon sets of on a new quest filled with terrible grammar!
The Controls are actually similar to it's predecessor. You move Simon with the D-Pad, press A to jump, B to Whip and Up+B to use sub weapons. So Yeah, very similar controls which are easy in terms of getting used to!
The Graphics are not a huge improvement but they do work. Simon looks great and the scenery looks as Gothic and frightening (yeah right!) as it ever was! However, it's not as detailed as it's predecessor and therefore less convincing into the world of Castlevania.
The Gameplay is exactly like "Castlevania 1" but with a little bit of a difference. The Game is sort of a founder of "Symphony of the Night's" Gameplay. Basically it's like an earlier version of "Symphony of the Night" but instead of Dracula's Castle, you explore Transylvania and it's land and heath. Simon will travel through towns, talk to villagers etc. There is some monster killing in between but the main appeal of "Simon's Quest" (and also it's biggest flaw.) is solving riddles and stuff. There is some stuff you need to solve but sometimes the Riddles are soo hopelessly muddled that you have no clue where to go next! (Kinda like trying to figure out where to next in the MetroidVania's) The monster killing is the most fun aspect of the game as it will remind you of the previous Castlevania game soo much. To sum it all up, good gameplay if not terribly flawed!
The Music is once again awesome! The SFX are fine but the music in the game rocks, I mean listening to "Bloody Tears" just made my heart swell while Killing monters. To sum it up, great, memorable music!
I have a lot things to complain about this game even though I gave it a decent score. First off, I hate the day to night mechanic!! Why is it necessary to interrupt the game soo often?! It just literally gives you the feeling that you wanna say "WHAT KIND OF FREAKING CRAP IS THIS?!". And than you'll cry in a bad way. Also the grammar is really bad! Seriously, "hit your head on deborah hill to make a hole"? Or what about the fact that "A guy is offering bum deals in town". WHAT TOWN!! Which town is it? If you want to make an action game with puzzles then at least let the puzzles be mechanisms or something, not reading!! Also I have to grind for hearts! Yeah, grinding is another major issue in the game. The items are too expensive and you get not enough hearts to buy anything half decent!!! AUGGGGGGGGGH!!!! THIS GAME's DRIVING ME CRAZY!! (Takes calming down pill) ookay, onto verdict.
Castlevania II is a good game if not flawed. It's not an essential title but if you are one of those Castlevania Nuts like I'am this is worth a rent at least. Let's overview the facts shall we?
The Good: Castlevania gameplay intact, good story, Simon returns, graphics look nice, brilliant music, lots of things to buy, non linear adventure, some clever (almost) detective work, some good SFX!
The Bad: Grinding is infuriating, Day to Night transition is horrible!
The Ugly: Poor Grammar
Title: Okay Game.