Once again Dracula is back... and this time its up to Shanoa from the order of Ecclesia to dance with the evil count.
Story:
Well the story... I don't need to tell much about the story, do I ? :D It's of course like in the former Castlevania titles about count Dracula and his famous creepy castle also known as Castlevania, this time around you take the role of Shanoa, a long black haired witch from the so called Order of Ecclesia, like the title says. Shanoa was raised by Barlowe, Ecclesia's leader and her master, in order to defeat Dracula who is always revived by the evil which lies within human hearts and nature. For Shanoa to defeat Dracula she needs the power of a dreadfull spell called the Dominus. Dominus is Ecclesias special weapon against the counts evil presence and only Shanoa seems able to equip it. As the ritual starts where Shanoa is supposed to fuse with the Dominus spell, Albus another rival member of Ecclesia appears and steals Dominus before it can fuse with Shanoa leaving her behind unconscious and without any emotions and memories. Several weeks after that event, Barlowe trains Shanoa again and sents her after the fugitive Albus and the stolen Dominus to reestablish Ecclesias power and to counterattack count Dracula. So this is all there is to know for you ^^ like I said the story isn't that original but it sure is interesting enough to keep you until the end of this great game. 7/10
Gameplay:
We are talking about an 2D Platformer here, means you are controlling Shanoa from left to right through complex mazes, forests, mountains and and other regions, encountering all kind of creepy monsters and bosses. Castlevania OoE introduces a new and very easy to use glyph-system, which means all spells and weapons in the game are represented through different glyphs. Shanoa has three special marks on her right-, left arm and her back allowing her to absorb these magical glyphs. It's possible to equip three glyphs at the same time and also combine them to form special combos or ultimate spells to discard of evil foes quickly. The gameplay all in one is very well executed in this game and allows the player to vary their style of playing, it's even better than in the previous Castlevania titles for the Nintendo DS in my opinion. 8/10
Controls:
The controls are held perfectly combining the left and right trigger of the Nintendo DS to either backdash, glyphcast or skip through the three different glyphsets allowing Shanoa to change her weapons and spells in no time. I was very pleased how well the controls are implied with the gameplay and therefore I think it deserves a nine. 9/10
Graphics:
The graphics are very decent and beautiful like in the previous two DS titles. You will come across desolate, dusty, misty areas which are so well drawn, you will actually feel a little taste of isolation and creepiness. I must admit that some of the in-game monsters and backgrounds are recycled from the former titles but this will not hinder you to enjoy the beautiful and various levels this game holds for you. I also loved the thrilling intro sequence and the great character and cover design, this reminded me much more of the earlier Castlevania titles like Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow rather than the anime-alike character design from Dawn of Sorrow or Portrait of Ruins. 9/10
Sound:
The whole Castlevania series is very well known for its terrific soundtrack and Order of Ecclesia is no exception. The in-game sound is perfectly woven into the flashy gameplay and the voice-acting is not too cheesy like it was in Symphony of the Night. Surly this game wouldn't be so good if it weren't for the spectacular tunes which kick in when you encounter bosses and all in one the sound is just perfect and is true to the Castlevania series. 9/10
My Review:
So... we are up against the evil count Dracula again, let's see if Shanoa can turn him to dust for good. Right after the great Intro and dialogue sequence you are thrown into a long and dangerous journey to find Albus and retrieve the stolen spell Dominus from him. Unlike the previous Castlevania titles you will notice that Order of Ecclesia is divided into different areas which can be accessed after reaching the exit or defeating the level boss, so this is actually a nice idea since it doesn't imply to much backtracking and you always know where you have to go next unlike the former games where the protagonist was confronted with a giant castle maze and had to puzzle his way out to reach new areas or levels. So all you have to do in Order of Ecclesia is beating through one end to another of each area to reach the next area and so on, sounds easy ? Well.. its not ! This is where this game gets its thrill and difficulty, its actually a pretty hard game compared to the former Castlevania titles, you wont have that much healing items and also the enemies get immune to your standard attacks and you have to combine new glyph elements to kill them or you will be defeated very quickly, fortunately you will come pretty early in the game across a relic which allows Shanoa to equip 3 glyph sets which can be switched on the fly allowing her to use more than just a glyph-combo to face the enemies. This of course will affect your MP-, or magic points bar but as Shanoa is only able to use sword, axe, archer etc. glyphs and not normal weapons, her MP bar will recover very fast so you can make full use of the MP-consuming glyph system. New weapons, magic casts, summoning and ability-glyphs can be found throughout the whole game scattered in secret areas, hidden in statues or dropped by enemies, Shanoa is able to collect them by absorbing the different glyphs into her tattoo-alike mark on her back.
As you are progressing through the game Shanoa will come across a village where all the villagers seem to be abducted by Albus so you must save all the villagers first before attempting to buy any items or equipment and this could be a difficult task because every new area is the breeding ground of new highly dangerous enemies and encountering them without healing items or the right glyph combination could get Shanoa killed very fast, so I advise for leveling up before attempting to hit the next area. The boss fights in this game are truly what a great Castlevania game should be all about. Giant skeletons, monster-crabs, werewolves and so on are back and try to give Shanoa a very hard time and last but not least you will ultimately have to face Dracula himself after slashing your way up to his throne room through the bosses and enemies. The game is divided in two parts, the 20 separate areas, Shanoa has to visit and after that the infamous castle of Dracula which is like in the previous games a very huge and complex maze of chambers and secret rooms.
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia offers about 15 hours of intense gameplay and is considered as one of the most innovative and difficult Castlevania titles for the Nintendo DS so far, you will be spending a lot of time fighting different type of enemies, collecting glyphs, saving villagers, solving riddles or leveling up Shanoa. The only negative thing about this game is, well I dunno if we can call it negative or not, is the difficulty. As I mentioned above this game is a little bit over the Castlevania game difficulty which is a great deal for pro gamers but casual gamers or people new to the Castlevania series, prepare to see the Game Over screen a couple of times before even reaching Draculas final keep, another annoying thing was the great amount of damage which Shanoa can receive if she is not highly leveled up or you forgot to buy healing items which are pretty expensive at first. Anyway after reaching Level 30 or so you can try to hit on Draculas castle or even the secret dungeons. Order of Ecclesia is a hard game but people who love it like I do will play it through the end ^^ It's just like Shanoa says "I am the morning sun to vanquish this terrible night" :D really great quotes are also included in this game and Draculas final speech is also very cool this time (even better than Draculas speech from Symphony of the Night IMHO).
So after beating the whole game and stuff you will be of course rewarded with the typical Castlevania Boss Rush mode which is a recapitulation of all boss fights this game offers and also you will unlock the hard mode ( as this game isn't hard enough already :| ) in addition you can also earn medals this time around by beating each level boss without being hit even once but this was rather some impossible task for me because I really suck at perfect game playthroughs, so just try it for yourself as it delivers a very nice replay value.
Final Words:
Thats all there is to say about Castlevania Order of Ecclesia... Its your typical 2D side-scroll Castlevania adventure game with incredibly good gameplay, sound, animation and some new kickassing female lead ( I have to say it again, Shanoas quotes are really great ^^ ) but kinda difficult on the other side and maybe at some points a little bit too recycled, nevertheless this game is really one of the best Castlevania titles and you should give it a try as a newcomer and as a true Castlevania fan you probably play this really great game anyway as for me I really enjoyed it and therefore I wrote this review about it.
Endrating: 9/10