Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Here it is, in full glory.
From left to right: Razputin, Soma Cruz, Buzz Lightyear, Me, Lambda, Balrog, Weegee, Sir Dan

This weekend was probably the most busy gaming wise (not even including the Sounders game) that I have had in years. While I didn't complete any of these games strictly in the span of the weekend, finishing 3 games at once is almost unheard of for me.

The GBA saw three Castlevania new games, beginning with Circle of the Moon, the second ever Castlevania to feature "Metroidvania" style gameplay. Second came Harmony of Dissonance, a game I just couldn't enjoy no matter how hard a tried. Third and final was Aria of Sorrow, a game I just couldn't NOT love no matter how hard I tried. For the first time since Symphony of the Night, Konami took the series in yet another new direction with the customizable soul system. The soul system was a ton of fun to use, and rewarded exploration with more and more powerful souls in your arsenal. The system has been a defining characteristic of every Castlevania game since, as some sort of system with abilities being gained from enemies has been present in every game sicne. Of course, that isn't all there is to love about AoS. IT marked the return of brilliant music to the series, as the first two GBA games were lacking in the audio department. AoS has some of the most varied, atmospheric levels of any Castlevania to date. These lavels were masterfully designed, and tons of fun to explore. The story was an interesting one for Castlevania, taking place in the future. It's not lacking in the "twists and turns" department, either. There is so much game in Aria of Sorrow, only someone who isn't a fan of the genre won't fall in love.

Being a poor man, I tend miss out on playing alot of games. I'm sure alot of people can relate to me on this one. Anyway, while taking a break from GiantBomb for a little bit, I went down to the local pawn store (Cash Converters, a shitty place to sell, but a great place to shop!) and found a bunch of old games. Well, some of them aren't so old, but you know. I'll write about em as I play through them all, so without further ado heres the first one the list:

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Picked up this game for 5 bucks. I was never really a huge fan of the old Castlevania games on the NES, and i hired Castlevania 64 back in the day (ironic that it doesn't have a game page?), so I was a little on the fence about buying this at first. From what I had read, though, the Castlevania games have become very Metroid'y, which is a series I really do like, so I thought 'why not?'. I guess I wasn't disappointed.

The game is pretty solid, a nice length, some pretty challenging bosses, a great soundtrack, some pretty nice visuals for the GBA, and one of my weaknesses: a huge list of collectibles. I played it over the weekend, it took me about two days to finish the first run through, although I only ended up getting about 97% map completion and probably only about half of the collectible souls (which make up your inventory of abilities). I can't really find a place to fault it, even though it isn't an outstanding game by any means. The story is fairly thin, and the different areas in the game, while labeled when you enter them for the first time, meld into eachother after the initial finding, making it sorta hard to discern how near or far a certain area is from where you are. Could have used with some better labeling of the areas, but the game does do a pretty good job of nondescriptly guiding you to the next place of contention when you gain a new ability. It does this by showing you all the places you need to go in a previous area you've been pretty explicitly and vividly, so you won't find yourself thinking 'goddamn it, where the fuck do I go now?'. Because it does this unobtrusively makes it a standing point. The recent 2D Metroid games have had a habit of going 'hey dude guess what? Go here!', which is the sort of hand holding that can dumb down the experience a little.

In the end, it didn't make me a Castlevania fan, but it's still an enjoyable experience.