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The best 3D Castlevania, ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: December 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania is a vampire hunting game series that has spanned over 20 games in almost as many years on over a dozen game systems. It is the longest running action/adventure series neck and neck with The Legend of Zelda. Through the years the games have had their ups and downs but it's mostly been up, and considering that the series has traveled thru half a dozen developers that's quite an exceptional record. One of the most highly acclaimed "ups" was for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the original Playstation. So highly regarded was that game (and even some others in the series) people tend forget the flaws in the game, thusly expecting it's highlights to be the general standard at which future Castlevania games should be all the way through. This was never more evident than when the director of Symphony Koji "IGA" Igarashi was promoted to Castlevania series producer in 2001. Expectations were impossibly high for the future of the series, and there was no way fans (including myself) would ever be appeased.

Two years ago Lament of Innocence made it's PS2 debut to mixed reactions. While most praised the music and atmosphere, the extremely repeditive level designs and lack of gameplay depth were blemishes that could not be ignored. Many fans still hail Lament as a bold and important step for Castlevania, but since the overall feel of the game screamed unfinished, those fans reside in the minority... enter Curse of Darkness.

Curse of Darkness like Lament begins with a seemingly simple and familiar story, but with an important twist or two in the middle that keeps the narrative fresh. It may not have the heart wrenching turn of the tide that Lament did, but the dialogue is exceptional in both Japanese and English.

The story goes, three years after Trevor and his friends defeated Dracula, (see Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for the NES) a former devil forgemaster of Dracula (named Hector) whom had turned against his leader when Dracula began to harm humans, is lead back to the Castlevania ruins after another devil forgemaster named Issac, whom had Hector's finacee' burned at the stake for suspicion of witchcraft. Supposedly Issac blames Hector for Dracula's destruction, so in the most dire act of revenge he helped kill Hector's woman much in the same way that Dracula's love Lisa was killed some years prior. But nothing is as it seems, and the various characters whom should be your ally are enemies and allies may not be friends at all. The Curse of Darkness is clouding the truth.

The first thing you'll notice when you begin playing is how large the game is... the areas are huge! Normally this wouldn't be a problem for most developers with an enormous budget, but Konami seems to hold the reigns in on their classic series like Castlevania and Contra. As a result the level design seems to have a rushed feeling to them. There is certainly much more variety than there was in the previous game thankfully, just not enough in the way of enemies and landscape variety (whatever happened to bottomless pits?). Even with the somewhat helpful directional arrows and map, you WILL get lost many times. In this day and age when levels are designed huge with minimal loading time, the rooms of Curse of Darkness (PS2) have to load on an average of every other door for 2-3 seconds. This could have been eliminated by either the shinking and consolidating of the more interesting areas, or by a major reduction of the number of doors and doorways so that the levels continue without fading to black. Luckily the Xbox version has virtually no load time at all.

Fortunately, that is the only major criticism I have for this game. Everything else has been largely enhanced from when we last left Dracula. Much of this game has that nostalgic Castlevania feel. When running through hallways you will recognise the backgrounds, there is a waterway straight out of Castlevania 3, a highly impressive cathedral hints back to several games, a town full of zombies brings fond memories of Simon's Quest, and of course the all but required clock tower and Dracula's dwelling after a long staircase. Also the camera is less problematic with full control being at your fingers. And of course many enemies from previous games rear their head to cause more trouble. This is important because there is no video game series around that even comes close to the ambiance that Castlevania delivers. Truly gothic in the architectural sense and in a class of it's own. With brilliant characters by Ayami Kojima and exceptional music by Michiru Yamane, the mood of Castlevania is largely what draws so many fans to it (and what lead so many developers to copy it for games like Ninja Gaiden, Ghosts and Goblins and Devil May Cry).

While Lament had an interesting but often overpowered combo system, Curse introduces a new combat system that both draws in new players as well as challenges veterans. So instead of ridiculous button mashing and memorizing of lengthy combos there is but one attack button, however the brilliance of this system is that depending on how many times the attack button is pressed a second finisher button will create a different effect. So if you're weilding a spear and the enemies are surrounding you, press attack three times and then the finisher and you will spin the spear around you knocking most enemies away. However if you feel the need to launch one enemy in the air press attack twice and then finish once and the enemy will pop up and be open for arial attacks. With such an easy yet strategic interface, it is difficult to see why other games did not incorporate such a handy control scheme before. And since you have several different kinds of weapons to choose from, the gameplay variety has opened up tremendously.

Speaking of weapons, no longer will you need to scour the entire castle to find that special weapon, armor or item. Now with items that baddies drop (and other that you can steal) you will be allowed to create your own, with dozens and dozens to choose from. Some are hand weapons for up close and fast martial arts, some are swords for the more traditional player, and still others are powerful but heavy axes. And depending on what weapons you use, will determine how your familiar evolves.

Returning from Symphony are familiar side-kicks, (helpful monster friends always by your side) but now known as innocent devils (or IDs) they can now grown and change into more powerful creatures with different abilites. Some will carry you over chasms yet shoot a barrage of needles at foes, others will open new doors yet offer you strong protection from enemy attacks. As you play thru the game the IDs will lay even more powerful ID "eggs" that can be stored with a shopkeeper until you wish to use them to become even stronger as both you and your ID level up.

With recent 2D incarnations still borrowing heavily from Symphony and Aria of Sorrow for Gameboy Advance, the series 3D outings like Curse of Darkness are a breath of fresh air to this veteran. I've been fighting Dracula and his minions ever since I first put a quarter into Vs. Castlevania the arcade game almost 20 years ago, and to see major improvements and enhancements in the series does my heart good. I know I'm in the minority, but to me Dawn of Sorrow for Nintendo DS doesn't really add a lot to the Castlevania table. And while I have nothing against 2D... I strongly reccomend to producer IGA and his team to revisit and re-release the classic, out of print and never released in the USA games to rediscover what made them so great before their 2D games start showing their age!!!

But until we see a Castlevania Collection, (or perhaps even the long sought after Chi no Rondo from the Japanese PC Engine console) the greatest strides in Castlevania are definately made in 3-Dimensions. If you think Devil May Cry is a bit trendy and are looking for something that doesn't insist that you slam a Mountain Dew while skydiving to sub-standard "extreme" Nu-rock music... Castlevania Curse of Darkness has all of the action you need with none of the post-Matrix BS. Zombies and skeletons should never be kung-fu masters that take several minutes to outwit, and Castlevania needs weak enemies as much as strong ones.

Concept: 10
Graphics and Art Design: 9
Gameplay and Control: 9.5
Music and Sound: 10
Fun: 10
Replay Value: 10

Total Score (not an average): 10/10 (5 stars = DON'T MISS THIS!)

Whatever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok, first off, I'm here to defend this game. Yes, it is basically the same formula as LOI, but also extremely different. Everyone keeps complaining that the plot (stolen girl) is repeated, well, yes, but what do you want from a vampire story? If it takes Konami a few tries to get 3D right, then let them. I bought this game the day it was released and I'm still enjoying it. It has great replay value when you find yourself with some downtime. All of you who keep saying that the game is too easy, well, I doubt you have 100% of the map completed. The only problem I have with this game is that you have to have the game guide to finish it properly. Konami made it almost impossible to figure out what to do without it. Yes, the combining system is tedious, but the guide tells you what to do and tells you how to use those hard to find materials. I'm not going to go on with this review forever because the game speaks for itself. It's not easy in the least and it is very reminiscent of SOTN. In conclusion, if you want to give this game justice, then buy the guide or don't play it at all.

Castlevania with a few Capcom-isms

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: December 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm not really an old school fan of the Castlevania series, but I did remember playing Super Castlevania for the Super NES and loved it! Lament for PS2 was my second try at a Castlevania game. Then this one. I found many repteated features that Capcom offers. The Innocent Devils feature is very familiar if you've played Chaos Legion. So is the shock of white hair (Dante (or Drizzt?)). Gameplay is similar to Onimusha and Devil May Cry.

The weapons evolution system is really cool here as you can combine various elements you find and steal along the way to create bigger and badder-ass weapons/armor. For example, I created, another Capcom-sim, an electric guitar!

The graphics are fluid as are the CGI scenes. Nice to see a 3-D Trevor Belmont. Whip it, girl!

Hint: I found the bosses were easier to defeat with Crimson's carpet bombs. They did more than half the work!

Awesome play time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Curse of Darkness is far more advanced than the last game. It is much harder and longer game play. If you are a hard core gamer this game is for you. The story continues as the curse needs to be broken yet again. The monsters have changed and more difficult to rid yourself of. There are no cheats available. To achieve any greatness the magic number for the towers is to become a level 99. Beware it is addictive, but the rapid eye movement you need can cause some major physical headaches so I would not suggest playing it on a daily basis.

Over all excellent graphics, fast pace and knowledge of the series is a plus.

WTF???

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Why can't Konami just re-release Castlevania Symphony of the Night?
I'd buy it again, wouldn't all you guys??
I mean, it sounds like most people compare every new Castlevania game to S.O.T.N. so why don't they remake it?
My PSOne is broken so I can't play my old one and I'm not going to buy a new one just for one game (well, maybe, we'll see).

They remade the first one and released it on the gameboy... so it's not like the concept of remaking a game is beyond Konami...

Did they forget how to make a good game??
Can't they figure out how to make S.O.T.N again?

too judgemental

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

the game is taking a hell of a lot of flack when it really isn't that bad! the story is predictable, but it's been established that the game of the bad guys in castlevania is to steal a man's woman and watch him squirm. the music isn't bad, i think of it as being like symphony of the night but with a slight dracula's curse sound. two games in the series with the best music. as far as difficulty goes, it's hard until you realize you should concentrate more on dodging than the offensive. in the fight with trevor, i thought it was impossible to get his life down. i later realized i had to watch for his weak points and move in. so if anything, that's a better point in a game. in the process of that, i wasn't getting angry with it because of the real fact that you're fighting a belmont! so he was kicking the hell out of me, but i thought it was awesome. so yes it's not the best castlevania ever made, because we all know which one that was. but this game really is what castlevania is when thrown into the third dimension. love it or hate it, just give it a chance.

Better than I expected

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Overall the game is better than I expected. I did like Lament much more because it really had the Castlevania feel we have come to expect. I was fearful this would be another Devil May Cry game but it is different enough to keep me interested.

The Innocent Devil concept is a nice try but not really what I want from this type of game. I want an action game and not an RPG and this game has too many RPG elements for my liking. I want to play the game instead of powering up Innocent Devils and creating new ones and getting them up to speed. Combining things to make new weapons confused the heck out of me at first. Again, I want an action game not a RPG. Stealing stuff from your enemies is fun. The need to sit in every chair to complete the game at 100% is moronic.

Gameplay goes ok but the Innocent Devils can be more of a hinderance sometimes than a help. Fighting certain bosses can be a pain with them as well. Having to guess what you are hacking at because the boss becomes transparent so you can still see you character is a pain. The camera angles are not always stellar either.

Still...it is more fun to play than I was expecting and stealing from your enemies can be fun. It still has the overall Castlevania feel but Castlevania without the whip just isn't right. I suggest renting it first or buying it used. I don't think it is worth a $40-$50 pricetag. $20 yes but not much more than that.

Not and RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game for the most part but think the "rpg" elements, combining and the buying and selling a bit much for a what is basically a good old fashioned hack and slash. The hacking and slashing was great and the bosses were a good challenge but picking up drops and finding weapon upgrades in a secret panel or chest etc. would have been better in my view. Graphics are nice and controls are tight.

Still a Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

After playing this game for more than a year, it is still one of the best for the PS2 in my opinion. The price has now dropped quite a bit, also.

Many people tagged this game as being "mediocre" or "boring". That would be true for the average gamer who runs through a game expecting cut-scenes every 5 minutes. That isn't the case with this game. If you ask me, Castlevania has never really been about story. It's about awesome soundtracks, killing monsters, and finding hidden items in unexpected places. This game follows the traditional nature of its series.

If you're a person who hungers for variety with each sequel, you won't get it with Castlevania. Each game is fairly similar, and the monsters and weapons are usually the same. This game gives you a lot to find and experiment with: items, weapons, IDs, attacks, etc. You can create new weapons and armor by combining items you find, which adds to the overall interest of the game.

In my opinion, this game was made for the typical Castlevania fan; it isn't really a game for everyone. Depending on what kind of person you are, you will either love this game, or you'll hate it to death.

To me, it's a work of art--> Some people get it, some people don't. If you're not really sure, rent it first, then buy it if you like it.

Great Game in the Series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After a very disappointing experiment with the N64 games I was happy to see the rebirth of one of my favorite game series Castlevania .Like every 3D environment game there are some glitches but nothing that is horrible .The storyline is fairly straight forward but has enough mystery to keep you guessing .The gameplay is a lot like the previous entry C:LOS but different enough to be a new experience . I'm looking forward to the next release .Be Seeing You .

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