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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania. The name will bring memories to a lot of gamers. From the good
old age of the nintendo, to the modern times of the PS2, this game has covered it all. The one problem with the series though,
overall, is the horrible storyline. This game began with you playing as a vampire hunter from the Belmont clan. And of course,
you go after the big baddy himself....DRACULA! This 2-D platform hack-&-slash was pretty famous, so the obvious sequals
come. They spanned all the consoles and handhelds. The problem though, was that people started making the story without the
Belmonts, or without Dracula. This made many fans confused and lost. Though, despite these loop-holes, one game came out for
the PSX by Konami, named: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. This might be the best Castlevania game out there and might
be considered one of the best scrollers out there as well! I will talk about this game over five principles: Gameplay, graphics,
story, fun factor, opinion.
Gameplay:
What can one suspect from the scroller? You can't get too into too much depth or
the game will most likely just be one sloppy piece of ... Tim Allen movie (which is an oxi-moron actually). You play as Alucard
in this game, Dracula's son (say Alucard backwards). He, is not a Belmont so he isn't limited to the whip. This game gives
Alucard many weapons at his disposal. Swords, fist weapons, short sowrds, guns,club weapons, etc. But if that isn't good enough
for you, he as well has the good old secondary weapons (holy book, axe, clock bottle of holy water) and the Cross, the strongest
one of them all with the sickiest animation as well, is at your disposal. WAIT! IT DOESN'T STOP THERE! You can also summon
spirits here and there, stransform into a Bat,wolf, and mist. So when it comes down to fighting, you have a lot of choices
at your disposal. Sadly, this still doesn't make up for the unforgivable boredom of repeating the same room so you can level
up and destroy the next part of the castle. 8.5
Graphics:
For the sake of all humanity, it's a 2D game. Do not suspect anything special,
especially the cutscenes that make *insert ugly game here* look like a *insert a breathtaking experience here*. Some of the
animations for the weapons stand out horribly from the background and surrounding monsters. Now, not all of them make your
eyes bleed and your ears ache (yes, some of them are that ugly that they effect other parts of your face) and the backgrounds
and enemy design are well done, making them even more noticble when put near the ugly animations. 7.5
Story:
This is a very tricky area for a reason. When put into the vast Castlevania plot,
it doesn't fit like the other ones and really confuse you. Yet, if you never played any other one, the story for this game
is well done. Like I stated, you play as Dracula's son, who came to try to destroy.....his Dad. In the beggining of the game
though, you take control of Richter Belmont (probably the least metrosexual in the whole Castelvania franchise) for a short
Battle against Dracula himself. The little dialogue (let me add, have voice acting, and great ones at it) gives you a little
taste of Dracula's motives. After you destroy Dracula, you take over as Alucard. Now, I can't really say much about what happens
because there will be a huge amount of spoilers, so the stoy is set up very cinematic and well worth the time. 10
Fun factor:
Over 140 different enemies and boses. Four different endings. A deep story. Many
secret areas and weapons. This game is impossible to put down, especially when someone holds a gun to your head and force
you to beat it. Trust me though, you would want to play this game fully through without the need of violence! The castle at
times has many branching options and the map is large, Michael Moore large. If you, though, do the right things and get the
right equipment, your final boss isn't even IN the castle you are in. Though, at times, the map gets too confusing and you
aren't really that sure where to go at times. 9.3
Opinion:
I love this game. It was the first game i have ever SEEN in play and the first
game that got me hooked. There are many bosses and very original. The number of items you can get will make your head dizzy
and your fingers-a-tapping. For $20, this game is an unbelievable pick up and anyone that has a PS2 should play it, get it
and play it. If you even have a faint interest in a good story or good replay value, this is THE game. Old school at its finest.
8.9/10
-Oleg M. (ArcticSnake)
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