Continuing the storyline of the fight against Dracula, SOTN brings everything Castlevania fans wanted into one game.
User Rating: 9.2 | Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku (PSOne Books) PS
Being part of a long series of Castlevania games, you have to ask yourself, why does this one stand out? Why is this one the game that’s known as the best Castlevania game ever? Is it difficult to cope with all the RPG elements in the game? All these questions and more will be answered from the time you turn on your Playstation. Plain enough, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the best game in the Castlevania series out of sixteen plus games, and some also might say that Symphony of the Night (SOTN) might be the best Playstation game ever created. Being released on September 30 of 1997, SOTN came with a lot of hype because of all it entailed to include, but unlike most games that come with hype, SOTN delivered. Symphony of the Night neatly fits into the storyline of the series fitting in between Dracula X (Super Nintendo) and Circle of the Moon (Gameboy Advance). In SOTN, you play as Alucard, the son of Dracula, sent upon a quest of finding out why the latest Belmont, Richter, has disappeared and why the castle of Dracula has risen from the dust once again. Throughout the many storylines of the games, Dracula’s castle is only supposed to rise every 100 years, but, as you’ll soon find out, Richter made the castle rise from its crumbled waste to fight an eternal battle with the count because of his lust for adventure, which is aided to by a dark sorcerer. This may all seem confusing, but the storyline of the game will progress through certain sequences as you explore such areas as the Alchemy Laboratory, the Marble Gallery, the Outer Wall, the Library, the Royal Chapel, the Abandoned Mines, among many other Castlevania locales. Throughout your journey of the enormous castle, you’ll come upon numerous smaller enemies and some quite large enemies that’ll want to stop your mission of vengeance against your farther. Buried within the castle walls, there are many secret rooms and crevices that can be explored at almost any time throughout this non-linear game. The idea of non-linearity in a Castlevania game is new to the series, but SOTN does it perfectly and this play style, being 2-D non-linear gameplay, was copied by all three games of the Gameboy Advance later on. Of course, you’ll come across some of the usual bosses such as Death, the Doppleganger, an enormous bat, Medusa, a fake Trevor and friends from the third Castlevania, plus many new bosses that’ll unlock new areas to the castle, and also many new weapons and accessories after you defeat them. An RPG element was added to SOTN, with the ability to change weapons, armor, headwear, footwear, and necklaces, among many other trinkets that you’ll come across throughout your travels. Alucard will level up after so many experience points and he’ll become stronger as he progresses during the game. Having the ability to switch weapons, cloaks, and armor give SOTN a new side of gameplay that fans of the Castlevania series have been wanting all along and Konami finally delivered in the greatest sense. There are so many items to find throughout the castles, some being hidden and some out in the open, that you’ll spend hours finding different combinations to fight your enemies with throughout the many hours you’ll spend answering the question of the missing Belmont and finding your father. But that’s not all, as you’ll find out through the story of the game; you’ll not only be exploring one castle, but also its inverted self. The game’s actually two games in one almost, with the amount of area that you’ll have to cover throughout the two castles, and the many bosses and enemies that you’ll battle through when traveling the corridors of Dracula’s castle. Depending on your percentage of exploration at the end of the game, up to 200% with both castles, you’ll also be able to play as Richter Belmont and travel through the game once again. That’s a lot of gameplay for just one game! The game is from 1997 and it is also only for the Playstation, so the graphics are a little behind the times for 2005, but fans of Castlevania aren’t dismayed by this aspect because of the amount of gameplay that’s involved in this installment. The transitioning into 3-D Castlevania games has been hard on Konami and the fans are always requesting that they stick to 2-D because they feel that that is where the Castlevania series belongs. Although SOTN has some dated graphics, they don’t look too terrible in the sense that they’re probably the best 2-D graphics out there. The backgrounds are richly detailed and a lot of time was spent by the graphic artists in bringing together the different rooms of Dracula’s castle to give the player a sense of dark atmosphere. To tie into the graphics while you’re playing, you’ll hear a wonderful symphony of music throughout the many hours and stages you’ll play in SOTN. A lot of time went into the music of SOTN which is a standard for Castlevania games nowadays and Konami definitely didn’t disappoint any fans of the series with this installment. The music that plays in the backgrounds only adds that much more to the atmosphere for the game that the player will almost be entranced with the different levels and musical tracks in the many different areas of the castle. The soundtrack for the game was so well done that Konami released a separate CD for fans to purchase to listen to the music on their on. Many hours and ideas went into this installment in the long line of Castlevania games and no fan could be disappointed with all the different elements presented to them. Castlevania 2 had a few RPG elements, but SOTN only built upon that idea 100 fold adding so many accessories throughout the levels that the player couldn’t possibly use them all. So much time could be spent exploring both of the castles and even the time spent playing Richter afterwards that SOTN easily has a lot of retail value. Having this much replay value, including all the RPG elements, and also being a great non-linear game easily makes Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the best Castlevania game in the series, and also one of the top contenders for the best Playstation game made.
